Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in libraries, bookstores, and schools. Typically (but not always) held during the last week of September, the annual event highlights the value of free and open access to information and brings together the entire book community — librarians, educators, authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas.

FAQ About Banned Books:

• What Is the Most Banned Book in America? For all time, the most frequently banned book is 1984 by George Orwell. 
• Why has Charlotte's Web been banned? Some school districts aimed to ban the book from schools because they believed the book has unsuitable topics for children to read about. One major complaints was that the story portrayed talking animals that can communicate and act just like humans.
• What is considered the first book banned in the United States? New English Canaan by Thomas Morton
• Why was The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle banned in the Soviet Union in 1929? Occultism
• In deference to the insanity of the reigning monarch, King George III, which Shakespeare play was banned from the stage in England from 1788 to 1820?  King Lear
• Why were Mickey Mouse comics banned in 1954 in East Berlin?  Mickey was said to be an “anti-Red rebel”
• During its examination of school learning materials in 1980, the London County Council in England banned the use of Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny from all London schools. Why were these classic children stories banned? The stories portrayed only “middle-class rabbits”