Banned Books Week

Celebrating the Freedom to Read: Sept. 22 - 28, 2013

For Teachers

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), a sponsor of Banned Books Week devoted to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education, created an anti-censorship center, to help teachers facing challenges to works used in their classrooms. The anti-censorship center provides their top five most helpful resources among other useful materials:

  • Students' Right to Read
  • Guidelines for Selection of Materials in English Language Arts Programs
  • Rationales for Teaching Challenged Books
  • Guidelines for Dealing with Censorship of Nonprint Materials
  • Defining and Defending Instructional Methods

They also encourage participation in the Banned Books Virtual Read-Out. Check out their list of challenged books (PDF) NCTE handled over the years for possible ideas on what book you can read for the Virtual Read-Out.