Banned Books Week To Be Marked With Events In Doylestown

DOYLETOWN, PA —A coalition of Bucks County community organizations, authors, students, parents and community members will celebrate "Banned Books Week" with awareness events on Sept. 21, 22 and 24 in Doylestown Borough.

Banned Books Week is an annual celebration of the freedom to read and the unifying power of stories. The week is sponsored by a coalition of organizations dedicated to freedom of expression.

Locally, events are being planned and organized by Advocates for Inclusive Education and Red Wine and Blue. Red Wine and Blue is dedicated to organizing and educating suburban women in the fight against extremism by standing up for education, libraries and reproductive rights.

"Some people don't think it's real, but it's happening," said Red Wine and Blue's Amy McGahran of the banning of books. "It's happening in our community and it's happening in our country. We want to use this opportunity with Banned Books Week to shed some light on what's happening," she said.

The American Library Association reported more than 729 attempted bans of 1,597 individual books in 2021. And between July 2021 and March 2022, Pennsylvania’s school districts collectively banned 456 individual books, second only to Texas (713 books) and trailed by Florida (204 books).

McGahran points to the Central Bucks School Board, which voted 6 to 3 in July to approve a new policy governing its library book selection process. Opponents called it a book ban. Supporters cheered it as a way of shielding young minds from sexually explicit materials.

"We're seeing a right wing extremist attack on public education and bans are just a small part of that," said McGahran. "We believe a public education should be for everyone and one parent and one community member should not be able to determine what the whole school district can and cannot read."

She added, "Most of the books that are being questioned and challenged are books that represent marginalized communities - the LGBTQ+ community, the persons of color community. Banned Books Week is a reaction to that and to let the community know that we support everybody and to let people know what's happening in our school districts," said McGahran.

Banned Books Week in Doylestown will kick off with a private event on Sept. 21 at the Rainbow Room. Open to ages 14-21, it will feature Central Bucks School District's trans student activist, Lily Freeman, of Project Uncensored; story time with LGBTQ+ children’s books; door prizes; cookies and hot cocoa. Youth are invited to come in their pajamas.

The week continues on Thursday, Sept 22 from 7 to 9 p.m. at The Garden Bar at Puck, Doylestown with a celebration of Little Free Libraries. The event is organized by Red Wine and Blue and will feature local speakers and the donation of banned books to area LFLs. Registration is required for this event at https://secure.everyaction.com...

"We're going to be giving away books," said McGahran. "We have had a couple community members who have donated a lot of new books that we can distribute in the community. We will be sharing those books with each other and also restocking our Little Free Libraries in Doylestown. Everyone who stops by can share a book and take a book."

The week concludes on Saturday, Sept. 24 from 4 to 6 p.m. at State and Main Streets with a Banned Books Parade. Participants will literally bring books to life. Along with music and guest speakers, attendees will be provided information regarding how book bans are affecting schools.

The books featured in the parade, said McGahran, will include the top 10 challenged banned books from across the nation in 2021.

"We're going to have kids dressed up as cardboard books. We have a local artist helping us with that. They're just going to walk around town and have some fun," she said. "We're giving the kids a chance to take part, plus we're educating the public about these books, which have been challenged and banned in our country."