From July 2021 to June 2022 alone, 1,648 different books were banned in different areas across U.S. One thousand six hundred forty-eight different books were declared as unreadable. (pen.org). 

Book banning happens when books are taken off the shelves because a group of people disagrees with the themes of the book.

Usually started by patrons and parents of communities, banning books starts with a challenge. To officially challenge a book someone must read through the whole book and then fill out a form stating what areas are “offensive.” The book would then have a hearing on whether or not to be banned.

Most “banned” books are just not accepted or sold by certain bookkeepers around the world.

The top book banning reasons from 2021-2022 in the U.S. are for books that read about race, sex, sexual orientation, and gender (wikepedia.org).

Modernly the reasons behind banning books are much different. Ten years ago the most challenged books were the Harry Potter books, for containing “witchcraft.” 

Book banning throughout history has also been violent. Books getting “banned” would be burning books, physical destruction. Authors also have been killed for creating certain works throughout history.

Mrs. Demaray, a 9th-grade Language Arts teacher, has her own thoughts about book banning. She believes books should never be banned. Regardless of the reason why they got restricted, books should be available to everyone.

She thinks of books as art, a “sharing of ideas.” By banning books people are taking away that ability to create art.

She has read the three challenged titles “The Hate U Give,” “The Bluest Eye,” and “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.” She doesn’t agree with them getting challenged, explaining “if families don’t want certain ideas or language to be shared with their student then that’s a choice.”

Outside of the U.S. books tend to get banned more intensely and for different reasons. 

In China and Hong Kong, censorship is more extreme, with China having used censorship as another form of power for a long time. Books that criticize the Chinese Communist Party are always banned. In China, there’s a list of words bookmakers need to avoid. Things that could be seen could as “politically sensitive.” 

In the Middle East, media considered un-Islamic gets banned often. In areas like Saudi Arabia and Iran the “freedom of the press” doesn’t really exist. Journalists end up in jail and people self-censor as much as possible.

Facebook and Twitter get restricted in the Middle East, furthering censorship and power over people. Restricting communication outside of a country restricts the ability to speak out and be heard.

In Hungary 2021, bookshops had to “seal and wrap”, books that had homosexuality, gender transition, or explicit forms of sexuality in them for people under 18.

In Russia books that contain themes about LGBTQ+ are censored along with an Islamic religious title. Swear words have to be sealed and marked as “obscenity” in bookshops. (bookriot.com).

Mrs. Demaray believes nothing should be banned, but some books can be restricted within certain age groups. 

When asked should any books be banned she answered, “At the high school, my answer is no. It would be a conversation at home, but there shouldn’t be a book or type of book that is just not available.”

“But my daughter who’s in elementary school, I would wanna know what she’s reading about.” Know if her daughter was reading about the unknown, things she hasn’t learned about so as a mom she could talk about it. Discuss things like race, gender, and sexuality, but don’t ban them.

“I guess I just wouldn’t want her reading a lot of F words. Yet,” she commented.

Censorship as a whole will never have an agreed-upon answer. One person wants to censor this, the other wants to censor that. The only “right” answer you can get is to not censor anything at all.