Banned Books Week
Banned Books Week is a celebration of the freedom to read. It highlights the value of open access to information and brings together the whole book community—librarians, book publishers, booksellers, journalists, teachers, and anyone who reads—to support the reading of books that have been challenged in an effort to remove them from shelves in libraries and classrooms. Many classics in American literature were once challenged books—including Beloved, The Catcher in the Rye, Fahrenheit 451, and even Moby Dick.
This year is organized around the theme that reading can “set your imagination on fire.” This campaign is heavily targeted at students, their teachers, and their librarians, but also encompasses any adult in book-related professions or who is a lover of reading and open information. Two posters were designed to present the slogan with powerful visuals of encountering a book that ignites something in the reader’s mind in a hand-drawn style. Vibrant reds and yellows were used for both the illustrations and the slogan, to continue the association with fire. Other items that use the slogan and illustrations are a tote bag (for filling with books) and bookmarks, which will be available from the ALA online shop and support the ALA’s work.
