Banned Books Week - Worth Noting - Texas groups discuss 38 banned books in 2001-2002 - Brief Article

Humanist, Nov-Dec, 2002 by Karen Ann Gajewski

* The twenty-first Banned Books Week--cosponsored annually by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and the Texas Library Association to "celebrate our freedom to read, speak, think, and express ourselves freely"--was held September 21-28. According to the report Free People Read Freely, of the 218 challenges issued over the 2001-2002 school year to 134 books, thirty-eight were banned; fifty-seven had their access restricted; twenty-two remained but students were encouraged to choose alternatives; sixteen are awaiting final decision on their status; and only eighty-five were retained without restriction. Topping the "banned" list were the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling.

Karen Ann Gajewski is a consulting editor at the Humanist.