Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.
"We can find freedom in the pages of a book — but book bans and censorship threaten that freedom, along with many other rights and institutions. During Banned Books Week 2024 and beyond, let’s share our love of right to read and the freedom found in books. Let’s be Freed Between the Lines!"
The books featured during Banned Books Week have all been targeted for removal or restriction in libraries and schools. In 2023, the American Library Association (ALA) tracked the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago; 4,240 unique titles were targeted.
Celebrate the right to read. The Goffstown Public Library supports your Constitutional right to access the information you want and hopes you will exercise that right by reading a challenged book. Visit the Library to interact with this week's banned book displays and check out a book, or see a selection in the catalog.
Banned Books Week is an annual week-long event celebrating the freedom to read, highlighting 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.
Since the 1990s, The American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom has compiled an annual list of titles that have been most frequently challenged and/or banned.
Learn more at ala.org/bbooks.