Tag: book challenges

Freedom to Read Week: Do You Know Your Banned Books?

Play a “Sporcle” that asks you to show off your knowledge of some of the most challenged books of the past few years.

Freedom to Read Week in Canada is February 23 to March 1

Get Caught Reading Banned Books

In the past few years, the number of challenges to books in both Canada and the United States has exploded. And while sanity prevails in many cases, in more and more places the censors have been successful. In some jurisdictions, hundreds and hundreds of different titles have been pulled from libraries, schools, government offices and other public institutions. In the private sector, bookstores and publishers have reported the increasing pressures of censorship. Writers have commented on the chilling effect this has on intellectual freedom.

Stand up for your rights and freedoms. Democracy is built on upon your right to information. You have the right to choose for yourself.

Adults have the right to choose for themselves what they want to read. Adults don’t have the right to choose what other people get to read. Parents have the right– and the responsibility– to teach and guide and discuss with their children about what types of library materials are right or wrong for them. Parents are free to have their opinions on what materials are good or bad for children in general They even have the right to express their opinions about why they think certain materials are good or bad for children. Parents do not have the right to decide for other people’s children what they can or can’t read.

February 23 to March 1 is Freedom to Read Week in Canada

Book Challenges in Canada

From September 2022 to the end of August 2023, Canadian libraries, especially school libraries, faced the highest number of book challenges ever for a 12 month period in Canada (source). The number of official challenge is likely just a small fraction of the challenges that go unreported– ALA studies suggest 82 -97% of challenges go unreported (source).

Intellectual freedom has been a pillar of library philosophy for nearly a century; and in our current climate, it is perhaps our most valuable tool in our efforts to amplify the voices of the most marginalized within our communities.

Michael Nyby

Read the full article, “A Rising Tide of Censorship: Recent Challenges in Canadian Libraries” by Michael Nyby of the CFLA Intellectual Freedom Committee, at Freedomtoread.ca