How West Siders Can Participate in Banned Books Week

The American Library Association (ALA) and the Banned Books Week Coalition recently announced the theme for Banned Books Week 2025 (Oct. 5 – Oct. 11): “Censorship Is So 1984. Read for Your Rights.”

“With the escalation in attempts to ban books in libraries, schools, and bookstores around the country, George Orwell’s cautionary tale ‘1984’ serves as a prescient warning about the dangers of censorship,” the ALA explained. “This year’s theme reminds us that the right to read belongs to all of us, that censorship has no place in contemporary society, and that we must defend our rights.”

Join the Banned Books Week Movement

“Love is never any better than the lover. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly, but the love of a free man is never safe.”
— Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (1970)

Visit Your Local Library

Start at the source. West Side branches of the Chicago Public Library—including Legler Regional, Austin, Douglass, and North Pulaski—will feature Banned Books Week displays and programming tied to the Chicago Public Library’s Book Sanctuary initiative. Browse their shelves, check out a challenged title, and talk to librarians about why certain books make these lists.

Host a “Banned Books Café”

Bring the conversation into community spaces. Partner with local coffee spots such as Urban Essentials (5300 W. Chicago Ave.), Monday Coffee (3243 W. 16th St.), or Momentum Coffee (5100 W. Harrison St.) to spotlight banned and challenged titles. Create a small reading corner, post short excerpts, or display mini-bios of banned authors with Chicago roots, like Sandra Cisneros, whose widely banned The House on Mango Street has repeatedly been listed among challenged books. In 2025, Cisneros spoke publicly about how the novel has been targeted — noting that its themes of identity, sexuality, and race have made it a frequent target of censorship.

In 1965, Cisneros and her family moved into a house at 1525 North Campbell Ave. in the Humboldt Park area. That house is widely understood to have inspired the fictional “house on Mango Street.”

Take It to the Classroom

Make censorship a teachable moment. Teachers can incorporate Banned Books Week into lesson plans through writing prompts, mini-debates, or creative projects on the theme “Censorship Is So 1984.” Encourage students to research why certain titles were banned and what that says about representation, language, and power.

Create a Neighborhood “Book Sanctuary”

Keep the books visible—and accessible. The City of Chicago’s Book Sanctuary initiative invites libraries, schools, and community organizations to publicly pledge that they’ll keep challenged books on their shelves. West Side institutions—from libraries and churches to after-school centers—can register as official “Book Sanctuaries” and proudly display the emblem of literary freedom. Learn more at chipublib.org/news/book-sanctuary-chicago.

Tune In and Take Action

Go virtual. You don’t need to leave the neighborhood to join the national conversation.

“Tune in throughout Banned Books Week for a series of (mostly) free online events featuring authors, librarians, and activists working to fight censorship!”
— American Library Association

Register at ala.org/bbooks/events for live panels, author Q&As, and workshops on how communities can stand up to book bans. Share what you learn using hashtags like #BannedBooksWeek and #WestSideReads to connect local voices to the national movement.