Banned Books Week: Let Books Be

In April 2024, Maryland legislators passed the Freedom to Read Act, protecting library materials so that they remain accessible to the public even if individuals disagree with their viewpoint. This law was a direct response to an increase in book challenges and bans across Maryland, part of a larger pattern across the country. Groups and individuals have been targeting titles representing perspectives that differ from theirs, claiming that those materials should not be available to anyone visiting libraries. In response, Maryland leadership provided tools and protections for library workers, but the fight against censorship continues.

“Banned books” are not titles that are totally inaccessible to anyone. Rather, people somewhere have limited access to a book, usually by removing it from classrooms or school or public libraries. Challenged books refer to titles where someone tried to ban a book, but authorities refused. In recent years, many of the books that have been challenged and banned represent the voices of marginalized people, often LGBTQIA+ individuals and people of color, especially Black authors and characters. It is vital for those both within and outside of these communities to be able to read about characters representing such viewpoints.

Banned Books Week has been observed since 1982. Beginning on October 4, this year’s theme is “Let Books Be – Protect the Freedom to Read.” The week ends with Let Freedom Read Day, on October 10, when everyone who values books and free access to ideas is invited to take action to defend books from censorship. See how you can participate at bannedbooksweek.org.

It is especially timely for Banned Books Week to occur in October, which is also LGBTQ History Month. It’s a great time to check out a title from a branch near you and learn something new about the history and achievements of the queer community. You can also choose one to borrow when you visit the library booth at Howard County Pride, Sunday, October 11 at Symphony Woods in Columbia.

Keep an eye on our social media for opportunities to share how YOU choose to fight against book challenges.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Faced with the difficulties of growing up and choosing a religion, a twelve-year-old girl talks over her problems with her own private God.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
In Anthony Burgess’s influential nightmare vision of the future, where the criminals take over after dark, the story is told by the central character, Alex, a teen who talks in an inventive slang that evocatively renders his and his friends’ intense reaction against their society. This dystopian novel is a frightening fable about good and evil and the meaning of human freedom.

Looking for Alaska by John Green
In a stunning debut novel, Miles “Pudge” Halter befriends some fellow boarding school students whose lives are everything but boring. Pudge falls in love with Alaska, the razor-sharp and self-destructive nucleus. But when tragedy strikes, Pudge discovers the value of loving unconditionally.

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
This is the first history of the United States told from the perspective of indigenous peoples. Spanning more than four hundred years, this classic bottom-up peoples’ history radically reframes US history and explodes the silences that have haunted our national narrative.

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
In Morrison’s first novel, Pecola Breedlove — an 11-year-old Black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others — prays for her eyes to turn blue. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning, and the tragedy of its fulfillment.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
Using riveting stories about famous and ordinary people, Wilkerson shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.

Eliana is a Children’s Instructor and Research Specialist at the Elkridge Branch. She loves reading, even if she’s slow at it, and especially enjoys helping people find books that make them light up. She also loves being outside and spending time with friends and family (when it’s safe).