About Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week takes place from October 5 to 11, 2025. This year’s American Library Association theme, “Censorship is So 1984. Read for Your Rights,” refers to George Orwell’s classic cautionary tale. The ALA states, “This year’s theme reminds us that the right to read belongs to all of us, that censorship has no place in contemporary society, and that we must defend our rights.” While the number of recorded book challenges in the U.S. has decreased between 2023 and 2024, according to the ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom, eight titles were challenged in Vermont in 2024. The accumulated data, however, only represent the portion of book challenges that have been reported to the ALA; many more challenges have escaped the ALA’s records due to underreporting, preventing libraries from purchasing titles, or legislative restrictions.

Across the U.S. in 2024, the most common justifications for censorship provided by complainants were false claims of illegal obscenity for minors; inclusion of LGBTQIA+ characters or themes; and covering topics of race, racism, equity, and social justice. 72% of these challenges were initiated by organized movements such as pressure groups and government entities that include elected officials, board members, and administrators. “The movement to ban books is not a movement of parents, but a movement of partisans who seek to limit our freedom to read and make different choices about things that matter,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, Director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “All who care about libraries and personal liberty must stand together and join the movement to halt this assault on the freedom to read.”

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