Gearing Up to Celebrate Banned Books Week

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) is urging booksellers to make plans to mark Banned Books Week, the national celebration of the freedom to read, this year from September 29 - October 6.

"It may be hard for booksellers to contemplate planning another event so soon after the release of the last Harry Potter book," said ABFFE President Chris Finan. "But it is important to remember that Harry himself was a target of the censors and that the fight to protect free speech continues."

To help booksellers, ABFFE has created a Banned Books Week Handbook at www.abffe.com. The handbook includes ideas for easy-to-organize activities and displays, lists of banned books, and posters that can be downloaded and reproduced at a local copy shop for a nominal fee. It also includes information about the American Library Association's Banned Books Week Kit ($40).

ABFFE's Freadom products, which are popular year round, include several new items: the Freadom T-shirt in two new colors (charcoal gray and forest green) and a small Freadom button in three different color combinations (mixed bags of 100 for $20). Other Freadom items are on sale. A downloadable order form can be found at abffe.com

Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 to draw attention to the growing number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores, and libraries. According to ALA, 546 books were challenged in 2006. At the top of the censors list was And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell (S&S Children's), the story of two male penguins who care for an egg.

For more information about Banned Books Week, contact ABFFE's Rebecca Zeidel at (212) 587-4025, ext. 13 or [email protected].

Banned Books Week is sponsored by ABFFE, ALA, the Association of American Publishers, and the National Association of College Stores.