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Intellectual Freedom Center

All students have the right to materials and educational experiences that promote open inquiry, critical thinking, diversity in thought and expression, and respect for others.

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Intellectual Freedom Center

Banned Books Week

 

Read the 2026 Banned Books Week press release, the Honorary Chairs, and see the special artwork.

Banned Books Week has been shining a light on censorship since it was founded in 1982, and the fight for free expression is as urgent as ever.

NCTE is a cosponsor of the week and a long-time member of the Banned Books Week Coalition (BBWC). The BBWC is here to support the community of readers, including students, educators, librarians, and booksellers, in the United States and abroad.

Resources

Events and actions

 

For decades, NCTE has worked with schools and educators on to stand up for intellectual freedom and provide anti-censorship resources. If you are facing a challenge, please consult the NCTE Intellectual Freedom Center to make a report, access resources, or contact NCTE.

 

 

 

Grounded in NCTE’s position statements The Students’ Right to Read and NCTE Beliefs about the Students’ Right to Write, this book focuses on high school English language arts classes, drawing from the work of seven teachers from across the country to illustrate how advocating for students’ rights to read and write can be revolutionary work.

 

 

Using diverse picturebooks, Angie Zapata offers practical approaches and guiding principles to explore literature through an anti-oppressive lens in the early childhood and elementary classroom. Drawing on NCTE’s position statement Preparing Teachers with Knowledge of Children’s and Young Adult Literature, this book will help you turn the teaching of reading of print and illustration into a transformative literacy encounter that nurtures readers and writers who understand the power of stories, especially their own, and who celebrate the diverse histories that shaped them.

 

Beginning with the assertion that educators can effectively use comics and graphic novels to develop readers’ critical literacy and empathy, DeHart explores the use of graphic novels across grade levels in a wide range of topics and themes. Taking When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed as a recurring focal text, DeHart argues that critical conversations can be opened up through well-chosen graphic novels. The book features recommended titles, insights from graphic novel authors and creators, and lesson ideas.

 

 

NCTE’s Support for the Students’ Right to Read

NCTE Actively Began Fighting Censorship in the 1950s 
McCarthyism spurred NCTE to take a more active stance against censorship, and in 1953, NCTE’s Committee on Censorship of Teaching Materials published Censorship and Controversy, condemning McCarthy’s tactics and championing freedom of thought. In 1962 NCTE published its seminal intellectual freedom guideline The Students’ Right to Read, leading up to today’s active Intellectual Freedom Center work which supports literacy educators and school librarians as they prepare for and respond to challenges to texts used in classrooms.