It's Banned Books Week!

I'm guessing most of you kidlit-friendly and book-bloggy readers out there already know that we're in the middle of 2010's Banned Books Week. (September 25 to October 2.) Did you know that an estimated 70 to 80 percent of the cases in which books are challenged at libraries and schools are never reported to the American Library Association? That surprised me for some reason. And then it didn't. Hard to know, of course, whether those challenges turned into bans or were summarily (or at least eventually) dismissed.

I haven't decided which banned to read in celebration of my intellectual freedom, but I'll definitely pick something tomorrow evening — 'cause that's when I plan to start reading it!

Meanwhile, I thought I'd share a roundup of the most interesting BBW-inspired links I've come across.

• Nifty interactive map showing locations of documented challenges. Click on the pins for exact location information and links to challenge letters. Yowza.
• ALA lists of the 100 most frequently challenged books of the decade: 1990–1999 and 2000–2010.
• ALA's description of the difference between a banning and a challenge.
• Article at the DePauw University site stressing the continued importance of BBW.
• TIME article on banned books from 1938.
• Q&A with ALA about how books get banned.
• List of books you might not expect to see banned. (Two dictionaries made this list, people!)
• Opinion piece on, hey!, not banning books.
• Opinion piece that misses the mark (in my opinion) by calling age-appropriate book selection by professionals a form of book banning. (But, clearly, the writer also wants to keep books out of her child's school library based on what she doesn't want HER child to read.)

Enjoy!