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Showing posts with label Banned Books Week. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Banned Books Week. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 30, 2026

October 2026




October is National Book Month!

To celebrate all things books, the adult department will have some Book Bingo sheets available. Complete 5 in a row on a bingo card and win a prize from our pumpkin pail!




Did you know that every year the last Friday in October is National Frankenstein Day?
In 1818, the first edition of Frankenstein was published, and within 5 years, its first 500 copies sold out. In 2016, 50,000 copies were sold.  In 2021, an original copy of Frankenstein sold at auction for $1.17 million, a record for a book authored by a woman. 





Banned Books Week:



This year, Banned Books Week runs from October 4th through the 10th with the theme of "Let Books Be."


According to the American Library Association, 2025 saw 487 documented attempts to censor books at libraries, schools, and universities. Claims of obscenity, the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ representation, and topics including race, racism, social justice, diversity, and various views of politics and religion are the most common reasons given for the censorship attempts. These attempts resulted in a total of 4,235 different titles being challenged or banned in 2025.





1. Sold  by Patricia McCormick

2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

3. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

4. Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

5. (tie) Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

5. (tie) Tricks by Ellen Hopkins

7. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

8. (tie) A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

8. (tie) Identical by Ellen Hopkins

8. (tie) Looking for Alaska by John Green

8. (tie) Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout



What's New:


We are starting a greeting card exchange in the adult department! We have a small selection of greeting cards available for you to take/share. Feel free to take a card or leave a (blank) card that someone else could use!




Through the generous support of the Illinois State Library "My Library is..." grant, the Dixon Public Library

is pleased to announce the addition of 3 Memory Care Buddy Bags to our collection. These resources are

available to check out from the adult department circulation desk.



Book Groups:


It's Homicide for the Holidays with Monday Mysteries!
Get ready to discuss the holiday mystery of your choice at the October 26th meeting at 1:30 p.m.


Order up a food-themed nonfiction read for Literary Merits.



Orbital will be taking on the paranormal this month by selecting a Science Fiction and Fantasy novel that features ghosts for its October 27th meeting at 6:00 p.m.

YA:


Check out the Teen Department for a new activity! 

A mystery book cover is on display in the Teen Section of DPL- can you guess the book?  Submit your response; if your guess is correct, you can earn a prize! A new book cover will be featured each month.

DPL Kids:


The Children's department has a variety of activities planned: Weekly Storytimes, a Halloween-themed family event on the 29th, and Fall Coding on Thursdays (registration required).



 


Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Banned Books Week: Sept. 26- Oct. 2


“Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association, www.ala.org“
"I don't think there is such a thing as a bad book for children. It's tosh. It's snobbery and it's foolishness. We need our children to get on the reading ladder: anything that they enjoy reading will move them up, rung by rung, into literacy."
-Neil Gaiman, "Art Matters: Because Your Imagination Can Change The World"

"In 2020, more than 273 books were affected by censorship attempts. Demands to remove books addressing racism and racial justice or those that shared the stories of Black, Indigenous, or people of color grew in number. At the same time, books addressing themes and issues of concern for LGBTQIA+ people continued to dominate the list." https://www.ala.org/news/mediapresscenter/presskits/bbw

“Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association, www.ala.org“


What does it mean when we say, ‘Books unite us?’ It means that books are the tethers that connect us culturally. Stories ground us in our humanity; they convince us that we’re not actually that different and that the things that are actually different about us should be celebrated because they are what make up this tapestry of life.”
-Jason Reynolds



"When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl. George thinks she'll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte's Web. George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can't even try out for the part . . . because she's a boy. With the help of her best friend, Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte -- but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all" -- provided by publisher





"The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. Racist ideas are woven into the fabric of this country, and the first step to building an antiracist America is acknowledging America's racist past and present. This book takes you on that journey, showing how racist ideas started and were spread, and how they can be discredited"--Dust jacket flap.
"A history of racist and antiracist ideas in America, from their roots in Europe until today, adapted from the National Book Award winner Stamped from the Beginning"-- Provided by publisher.



When sixteen-year-old Rashad is mistakenly accused of stealing, classmate Quinn witnesses his brutal beating at the hands of a police officer who happens to be the older brother of his best friend. Told through Rashad and Quinn's alternating viewpoints.






"Speak up for yourself--we want to know what you have to say." From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless--an outcast--because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her.



Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.



After discussing the police shooting of a local Black man with their families, Emma and Josh know how to treat a new student who looks and speaks differently than his classmates. -WorldCat



A young girl growing up in an Alabama town in the 1930s learns of injustice and violence when her father, a lawyer, defends a black man accused of raping a white girl.



In Depression-era California, two migrant workers dream of better days on a spread of their own until an act of unintentional violence leads to tragic consequences.



It is the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove -- a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others -- who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful so that people will look at her so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning and the tragedy of its fulfillment.




"Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does--or does not--say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life." -- Amazon.


Look for ALA’s Top Challenged Books of 2020 list in April 2021!

“Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association, www.ala.org“

Monday, September 28, 2020

Banned Books Week





"Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores, and libraries. 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". -https://bannedbooksweek.org




"Eight of the 10 most challenged books last year were based on L.G.B.T.Q. subjects or narratives, the American Library Association said in its annual ranking of books that were banned or protested in schools and public libraries." - There’s a Common Thread Tying Together 2019’s ‘Most Challenged’ Books: L.G.B.T.Q. Issues By Christine Hauser




"When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl. George thinks she'll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte's Web. George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can't even try out for the part . . . because she's a boy. With the help of her best friend, Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte -- but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all" -- provided by publisher.




"Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and after their personal acknowledgment of gender preference. Portraits, family photographs, and candid images grace the pages, augmenting the emotional and physical journey each youth has taken. Each honest discussion and disclosure, whether joyful or heartbreaking, is completely different from the other because of family dynamics, living situations, gender, and the transition these teens make in recognition of their true selves."--Amazon.com, viewed February 12, 2014.




"Meet Marlon Bundo, a lonely bunny who lives at the Naval Observatory with his Grandpa, the Vice President of the United States. But on this Very Special Day, Marlon's life is about to change forever ..."--Front dust jacket flap.




"A comic book for kids that includes children and families of all makeups, orientations, and gender identies, Sex Is a Funny Word is an essential resource about bodies, gender, and sexuality for children ages 8 to 10 as well as their parents and caregivers. Much more than the "facts of life" or "the birds and the bees," Sex Is a Funny Word opens up conversations between young people and their caregivers in a way that allows adults to convey their values and beliefs while providing information about boundaries, safety, and joy. The eagerly anticipated follow up to Lambda-nominated What Makes a Baby, from sex educator Cory Silverberg and artist Fiona Smyth, Sex Is a Funny Word reimagines "sex talk" for the twenty-first century"-- Provided by publisher.





A gripping vision of our society radically overturned by a theocratic revolution, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale has become one of the most powerful and most widely read novels of our time. Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, serving in the household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife. She may go out once a day to markets whose signs are now pictures because women are not allowed to read. She must pray for the Commander to make her pregnant, for in a time of declining birthrates her value lies in her fertility, and failure means exile to the dangerously polluted Colonies. Offred can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost even her own name. Now she navigates the intimate secrets of those who control her every move, risking her life in breaking the rules.



Callie loves theater and this year she's determined to create a set worthy of Broadway on a school budget. But how can she, when she doesn't know much about carpentry, ticket sales are down, and the crew members aren't working together? Not to mention the onstage AND offstage drama that occurs and when two cute brothers enter the picture!



Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.






Reason: Discussion of suicide

When high school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate Hannah, who committed suicide, he spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events leading up to her death.



Reason: Drug use, profanity, offensive language

"Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does--or does not--say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life." -- Amazon.



Reason: Gambling, offensive language, political viewpoint, graphic depictions; was called “politically, racially, and socially offensive”

An intelligent and outspoken only child, Satrapi--the daughter of radical Marxists and the great-granddaughter of Iran's last emperor--bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. Originally published to wide critical acclaim in France, where it elicited comparisons to Art Spiegelman's Maus, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi's wise, funny, and heartbreaking memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran's last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran: of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life and of the enormous toll repressive regimes exact on the individual spirit. Marjane's child's-eye-view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a stunning reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, through laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love.



Narrated by a 15-year-old autistic savant obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, this dazzling novel weaves together an old-fashioned mystery, a contemporary coming-of-age story, and a fascinating excursion into a mind incapable of processing emotions.


Books About Banned Books



"The autobiography of a South Korean woman's student days under an authoritarian regime, and how she defied state censorship. When Kim Hyun Sook started college in 1983 she was ready for her world to open up. After acing her exams and sort-of convincing her traditional mother that it was a good idea for a woman to go to college, she looked forward to soaking up the ideas of Western Literature far from the drudgery she was promised at her family's restaurant. But literature class would prove to be just the start of a massive turning point, still focused on reading but with life-or-death stakes she never could have imagined. This was during South Korea's Fifth Republic, a military regime that entrenched its power through censorship, torture, and the murder of protestors. In this charged political climate, with Molotov cocktails flying and fellow students disappearing for hours and returning with bruises, Hyun Sook sought refuge in the comfort of books. When the handsome young editor of the school newspaper invited her to his reading group, she expected to pop into the cafeteria to talk about Moby Dick, Hamlet, and The Scarlet Letter. Instead she found herself hiding in a basement as the youngest member of an underground banned book club. And as Hyun Sook soon discovered, in a totalitarian regime, the delights of discovering great works of illicit literature are quickly overshadowed by fear and violence as the walls close in. In BANNED BOOK CLUB, Hyun Sook shares a dramatic true story of political division, fear-mongering, anti-intellectualism, the death of democratic institutions, and the relentless rebellion of reading."-- Provided by publisher.




When twelve-year-old June Harper's parents discover what they deem an inappropriate library book, they take strict parenting to a whole new level. And everything June loves about Dogwood Middle School unravels: librarian Ms. Bradshaw is suspended, an author appearance is canceled, the library is gutted, and all books on the premises must have administrative approval. But June can't give up books . . . and she realizes she doesn't have to when she spies a Little Free Library on her walk to school. As the rules become stricter at school and at home, June keeps turning the pages of the banned books that continue to appear in the little library. It's a delicious secret . . . and one she can't keep to herself. June starts a banned book library of her own in an abandoned locker at school. The risks grow alongside her library's popularity, and a movement begins at Dogwood Middle--a movement that, if exposed, could destroy her. But if it's powerful enough, maybe it can save Ms. Bradshaw and all that she represents: the freedom to read.



An inspiring tale of a young girl who fights back when her favorite book is banned from her school library--by starting her own illegal locker library!




"Free Downloads", American Library Association, January 3, 2013.

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/bannedbooksweek/ideasandresources/freedownloads (Accessed September 1, 2020)

Document ID: 77f7362e-06b8-4b20-8262-b870e3fb52ea

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