In honor of Banned Books Week, Eugene Public Library invites everyone to celebrate our Constitutional right to read, listen to, view, write, create, and otherwise experience or express whatever we choose.
Join us for a live online talk about "The Long Legacy of the Comics Code" by Andréa Gilroy, PhD, comics educator, and owner of Books With Pictures Eugene. You can set a reminder now, watch live on Thurs., Oct. 1 at 6:30 p.m., or watch later on YouTube at bit.ly/ComicsCensorship.
Gilory will discuss the successful campaign of the 1940s and 1950s to ban comics -- and even burn them -- in an effort to "protect the children." She will connect that moment in American history to current events and to the award-winning graphic novel "My Favorite Thing Is Monsters" by Emil Ferris. Learn how and why our understanding of comics as a medium has shifted over time -- and what we miss if we dismiss any form of storytelling as "just for kids." "My Favorite Thing Is Monsters" is available with your Eugene Public Library card as an eBook (https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11968342) or in print (https://bit.ly/35n0mdA).
And here are clickable lists to borrow books, ebooks, and audiobooks of titles that some people have tried to censor and keep from you:
Adults
Adults - Banned Books to borrow online with OverDrive
Adults - Banned Books to borrow in print and online
Teens
Teens - Banned Books to borrow online with OverDrive
Teens - Banned Books to borrow in print and online
Kids
Kids - Banned Books to borrow online with OverDrive
Kids - Banned Books to borrow in print and online
More about Banned Books Week:
Many people are under the impression that attempted censorship is a thing of the past or that “it doesn’t happen here.” In fact, individuals and groups continue to request -- or demand -- that public or school libraries remove or restrict access to particular books, music, films, and other resources.
Banned Books Week focuses on these efforts to remove or restrict access to books in order to draw attention to the harms of censorship. The books featured during Banned Books Week are titles that have been targeted for removal or restriction. Additionally, Banned Books Week celebrates the fact that, in a majority of cases, the books have remained available precisely because people stood up and spoke out for the freedom to read.
Banned Books Week highlights the value of free and open access to information. The project brings together the entire book community –- readers, writers, students, librarians, teachers, booksellers, publishers, journalists –- in shared support of the value of free and open access to information.
To learn more about challenges to free speech and how to protect this essential right, visit:
OIF - American Library Association Office of Intellectual Freedom
ACLU - Free Speech