Banned Books Challenge
September 1-30, 2022
Reading is Empowering!
The American Library Association celebrates the right to read every year with Banned Books Week (September 18-24, 2022). This year, Loutit District Library is celebrating all month long. The theme for Banned Books Week 2022 is “Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us.” Learn about new perspectives and celebrate the freedom to read with books that have been challenged or banned throughout the years with us.
In addition to an educational exhibit on the library’s upper level, Loutit District Library features displays of frequently challenged or banned books throughout the library during September. Reread your favorite or discover the dangerous power of reading with a new title. Earn 250 points and two activity badges to win a banned books magnet and a spin on the library’s prize wheel for a surprise.
We’re encouraging the whole community to join. It’s free to participate, and you don’t have to have a library card unless you want to check out a book!
The Basics
Log your reading and activities to earn badges throughout the challenge. Each exercise encourages you to learn, read, and stand up to censorship.
Collect 250 points and two activity badges to receive your finisher prize! Finisher prizes include a magnet and a spin on the prize wheel for your chance at winning candy, magnets, bookmarks, mugs, gift cards, and more. Prizes will be available on Thursday, September 8 at both the Youth Services and Reference & Information desks.
Point guidelines:
• Earn 1 point for each minute of reading (e.g. 30 min. = 30 points).
• Earn 5 points for completing activities.
Read Books (or anything else!)
Each minute of reading is another point closer to your goal! Although we are encouraging you to read a banned or challenged book, any type of reading counts for your minutes. You can read a magazine, eBook, graphic novel, or newspaper, or listen to an audiobook! It’s that simple!
You may choose to log your minutes on the Beanstack Tracker App or with a paper reading log. Not sure what to read? Try one of the books on our digital and physical displays.
Why focus on banned books?
Sharing stories that are important to us means sharing a part of ourselves. Books reach across boundaries and build connections between readers. Censorship, on the other hand, creates barriers. Banned Books Week is both a reminder of the unifying power of stories and the divisiveness of censorship and a call to action for readers across the country to push back against censorship attempts in their communities.
What is a ban? What is a challenge?
Books are still being banned and challenged today. A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. While books have been and continue to be banned, part of the Banned Books Week celebration recognizes that, in most cases, the books have remained available. This happens only thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, students, and community members who stand up and speak out for the freedom to read.
If you would like to review Loutit District Library’s collection development policy to see how we make decisions about which materials we purchase you may view that here.
Get Started
Registration for The Banned Books Challenge starts now! If you have used the Beanstack website or app in previous years, simply log in and join the challenge!
For those who are new to Beanstack, click here to register, or download the Beanstack Tracker App on the Apple App Store, or the Google Play Store for Android.
Contribute
Please consider making a donation to support library programming year-round.