{"id":1810,"date":"2024-09-24T20:40:20","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T20:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/?p=1810"},"modified":"2024-09-24T20:40:20","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T20:40:20","slug":"banned-books-week-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2024\/09\/24\/banned-books-week-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Banned Books Week 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s impossible to miss the growing trend at organized efforts to ban books. That makes this year\u2019s Banned Books Week, \u201cFreed Between the Lines,\u201d more important than ever. The American Library Association\u2019s Office of Intellectual Freedom released a jaw dropping report<\/a> on the uptick stating, \u201cThe number of titles targeted for censorship surged 65 percent in 2023 compared to 2022, reaching the highest levels ever documented by the American Library Association (ALA). The new numbers released today show efforts to censor 4,240 unique book titles in schools and libraries. This tops the previous high from 2022, when 2,571 unique titles were targeted for censorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their report goes on to share, \u201cALA\u2019s Office for Intellectual Freedom documented 1,247 demands to censor library books, materials, and resources in 2023. Four key trends emerged from the data gathered from 2023 censorship reports:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Pressure groups in 2023 focused on public libraries in addition to targeting school libraries. The number of titles targeted for censorship at public libraries increased by 92 percent over the previous year; school libraries saw an 11 percent increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Groups and individuals demanding the censorship of multiple titles, often dozens or hundreds at a time, drove this surge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Titles representing the voices and lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC individuals made up 47 percent of those targeted in censorship attempts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. There were attempts to censor more than 100 titles in each of these 17 states: Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The preliminary data for 2024<\/a> shows 414 attempts to censor library materials and services and in those cases, 1,128 unique titles were challenged. This is a slight decline compared to this point in 2023, but still a disturbingly large number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopefully, by this point you\u2019re wondering what you can do to help stop this trend. I suggest going to the American Library Association\u2019s Banned Book website, https:\/\/www.ala.org\/bbooks<\/a>. There you will find all kinds of resources from online educational events to learning how to report attempts at book censorship in your community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I do every year, I\u2019d like to highlight this past year\u2019s top 10 most challenged books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1. Gender Queer: A Memoir<\/strong> by Maia Kobabe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. All Boys Aren’t Blue<\/strong> by George M. Johnson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. This Book Is Gay<\/strong> by Juno Dawson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. The Perks of Being a Wallflower<\/strong> by Stephen Chbosky<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Flamer<\/strong> by Mike Curato<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. The Bluest Eye<\/strong> by Toni Morrison<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7\/8. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl <\/strong>by Jesse Andrews<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7\/8. Tricks<\/strong> by Ellen Hopkins<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human<\/strong> by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Sold <\/strong>by Patricia McCormick<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get your own copies here.<\/a> (This is an affiliate link to my Bookshop, which supports independent bookstores throughout the United States. If you use this link to purchase the book, I will make a small commission at no additional cost to you.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you enjoy The Magical Buffet? Considering supporting The Magical Buffet on Patreon! For only $5 a month you\u2019ll receive monthly tarot\/oracle forecasts, classes, and behind the scenes updates! https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/magicalbuffet<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The American Library Association\u2019s Office of Intellectual Freedom released a jaw dropping report on the state of book banning in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"categories":[20,26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1810"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1810"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1818,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1810\/revisions\/1818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}