BY GISSELLE BAEZ
To kick off National Banned Book Week, the Cortelyou Brooklyn Public Library hosted a Books Unbanned Storytime on Oct 4. This was the first of event of many to come as all New York City libraries will be hosting events to bring awareness to what banned books are and how the bans affect society at large.
Banned books are books that are picked out and challenged to be removed from libraries, schools, or bookstore shelves by people who oppose the content of the book. In the last year there has been a 33% increase in the rate of banned books according to Pen America, a writers organization. According to NPR, Florida executed the most book bans within the 50 states and accounted for 40% of all book ban cases.
“Welcome to this Books Unbanned Storytime! We are here to celebrate books, and our freedom to read,” exclaimed Kathy Gerber, a librarian at the Cortelyou BPL, at the beginning of the event. According to the American Library Association’s website this year’s theme for Banned Books Week is “Let Freedom Read.”
She went on to read The Family Book by Todd Par, a book that was banned from the Illinois schools because the book had a depiction of same sex parents. This is one of many books to be banned in the United States. As she read this book to about 20 children and their guardians that were attending the event. Behind her was a display of 11 banned children’s books. As she finished reading, she showed everyone some of the other books that were banned and said for what reason they were. One of those books she highlighted was Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, which was banned in Missouri because it showed a homosexual couple getting married.
“2,571 unique titles [were] targeted for censorship, most were by or about LGBTQIA+ persons and Black, Indigenous, and people of color,” stated the ALA on their website.
Banned Book Weeks started in 1982 to shed light on the number of challenged books in libraries. It has now become an annual event that intends on highlighting the freedom everyone has to read.
“When we ban books, we’re closing off readers to people, places and perspectives. But when we stand up for stories, we unleash a power that lies inside every book,” stated the ALA.