Banned Books Week is observed during the last week of September. It is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read, launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores, and libraries.
By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom compiles lists of challenged books as reported in the media and submitted by librarians and teachers across the country.
This year’s theme is Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us.
These Magination Press books have been challenged recently:
Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story About Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano, PhD, ABPP, Marietta Collins, PhD, and Ann Hazzard, PhD, ABPP is included on the Top 10 Challenged Books of 2020. It was challenged for “divisive language” and because it was thought to promote antipolice views.
Something Happened in Our Town follows two families — one White, one Black — as they discuss a police shooting of a Black man in their community. The story aims to answer children’s questions about such traumatic events, and to help children identify and counter racial injustice in their own lives. It includes an extensive Note to Parents and Caregivers with guidelines for discussing race and racism with children, child-friendly definitions, and sample dialogues.
This Day In June by Gayle E. Pitman, PhD Illustrated by Kristyna Litten was Named one of the Top 11 Most Challenged Books of 2018 by the American Library Association and is included in the American Library Association’s Top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books of the Past Decade.
In a wildly whimsical, validating, and exuberant reflection of the LGBT community, This Day In June welcomes readers to experience a pride celebration and share in a day when we are all united. Also included is a Reading Guide chock-full of facts about LGBT history and culture, as well as a Note to Parents and Caregivers with information on how to talk to children about sexual orientation and gender identity in age-appropriate ways. This Day In June is an excellent tool for teaching respect, acceptance, and understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.
Since the first book starring Jacob also hit the American Library Association’s Top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books of the Past Decade for 2010-2019, Jacob, the beloved Magination Press character from Jacob’s Room to Choose and Jacob’s School Play, both by Sarah and Ian Hoffmann, has helped kids understand gender, identity, and pronouns.
Magination Press’s books reach young readers and their parents and caregivers to make navigating challenges a little easier. The combined power of psychology and literature help foster conversations around issues that affect kids on a wide range of topics.
Sharing books and talking about issues they explore bring people together. Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us.
