Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read

September 21−27, 2014

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community –- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types –- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.

By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship. Check out the frequently challenged books section to explore the issues and controversies around book challenges and book banning. The books featured during Banned Books Week have all been targeted with removal or restrictions in libraries and schools. While books have been and continue to be banned, part of the Banned Books Week celebration is the fact that, in a majority of cases, the books have remained available. This happens only thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, students, and community members who stand up and speak out for the freedom to read.

For more information on getting involved with Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read, please see Calendar of Events, Ideas and Resources, and the new Banned Books Week site. You can also contact the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 4220, or bbw@ala.org.

(The above information comes directly from the Banned Books Week page on the ALA website.)

To view a full listing of the top ten books challenged/banned each year for the last decade, visit here or view PDFs of the lists in the BBW press kit.

To do my part to help support this worthy cause, I'll be giving away one of the top ten frequently challenged books from last year to one lucky winner. FYI, Looking for Alaska was banned or challenged for the following reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group.

Rules:

This giveaway is international. As long as The Book Depository ships to your location, you are good to go. (You can double-check that here.)
One entry per household.
Entries will be verified. Any entry found to be falsified will result in disqualification of all entries for that participant.
Please note that if you use your Twitter account solely for giveaway entries and you enter using the Tweet about the Giveaway entry, that entry will be disqualified. Please remember that this entry method is to spread the word about the giveaway, not simply increase your chances of winning.
Winner will be notified via email. Winner will then have 48 hours to respond before another winner will be selected. Please check your SPAM folder!!!
We are not responsible for lost packages.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now that you've entered here, be sure to check out all of the other stops on the Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop:

Thanks to the ladies at BookHounds and I Am A Reader, Not A Writer for hosting!