This week is Banned Books Week, an event organised by a group of U.S. organisations, in conjunction with the American Library Association (ALA) to draw attention to the both the ongoing and historical censorship of books.

While the main onus of the week is to encourage people to seek out and read banned and/or challenged books, this annual event generates significant and necessary publicity to ongoing attempts to ban books from inclusion in the public domain, such as in libraries and schools.

This is why the annual list of The Most Frequently Challenged Books is such an important and fascinating resource. The most challenged books in 2005 included Judy Blume’s Forever, It’s Perfectly Normal (an educational health book aimed at young people) and, of course, The Catcher in the Rye. The list of challenged books are also available organised by institution, type and initiator.

ALA has also produced an action guide to commemerate Banned Books Week (read, discuss) but also worth checking out are the posters produced by the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.