Book Bans and their Impact on Young People and Society - Table Talk: Family Conversations about Current Events

Book Bans and their Impact on Young People and Society Table Talk: Family Conversations about Current Events iStock What does it mean to challenge or ban books? Why are books banned or challenged? What impact does banning books have on young people, schools, libraries and society? Book Bans and Challenges “Challenging” a book means that a person, group or institution is trying to remove or restric. [...] In fact, for the 2020 Top 10 challenged book lists, six out of ten most challenged books are about race and racism and by authors of color, most of whom are Black. [...] Since the 1980’s the ALA has sponsored “Banned Books Week,” which is an annual event celebrating “the freedom to read.” It is usually held during the last week of September and highlights current and historical attempts to challenge and ban books in libraries and schools. [...] Age 9 and up Questions to Start the Conversation How did you feel about what you learned about book challenges and bans? What thoughts came to mind? Why do you think there have been book bans for centuries? Have you ever been told that you couldn’t read a particular book or kind of book? How did you feel? 3 / 5 Was an explanation given for why you were told you couldn’t read that book? Did you lis. [...] In addition to pushing back on the effort to ban books, engage with local stakeholders to increase the diversity of books and books about important 4 / 5 social issues in your classroom, school and community libraries and bookstores.