Sept. 24-Oct. 1 is the American Library Association's Banned Books Week

If you love books, then this week is one of the most important weeks of the year.

While it hasn’t received a lot of publicity, Sept. 24-Oct. 1, is the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week.

According to the ALA, this special week is “an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.”

“Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week (BBW) highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

“Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.

“The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings. Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections. Imagine how many more books might be challenged—and possibly banned or restricted—if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.”

To draw attention to banned books, the ALA releases a list each year of frequently challenged books. The most recent list, covering the 2010 calendar year, was released in April and contains more than a few titles that you will recognize.

The previous year’s most challenged books included:

- “And Tango Makes Three” by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson

- “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie

- “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley

- “Crank” by Ellen Hopkins

- “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins

- “Lush” by Natasha Friend

- “What My Mother Doesn’t Know” by Sonya Stones

- “Nickel and Dimed” by Barbara Ehrenreich

- “Revolutionary Voices,” edited by Amy Sonnie

- “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer.

Only two of these books were on the Top 10 list of most challenged books in 2009 – “And Tango Makes Three” and “Twilight.”

Books that fell out of the top 10 included “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger and “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker.

The American Library Association reported 348 challenges to books in 2010 and at least 53 outright bans on some books. They also noted that there were likely other challenges and bans that went undocumented.

According to their Web site, the library association defines a challenge as any effort “to remove or restrict materials from school curricula and library bookshelves.”

Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the American Library Association, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Association of American Publishers and the National Association of College Stores. It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. In 2011, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, National Coalition Against Censorship, National Council of Teachers of English and PEN American Center also signed on as sponsors.

For more information about Banned Books Week, visit www.bannedbooksweek.org.