It’s Banned Books Week at the Soldiers Grove Library on Sept. 24 to Oct. 1.

Libraries, schools and booksellers across the nation participate in this annual event celebrating the importance of the First Amendment and our freedom to read

Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information, while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted banning of books across the United States.

The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted banning. Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections.

Imagine how many more books might be challenged, and possibly banned or restricted, if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.

Stop in the library and learn about the efforts to challenge books in our nation’s libraries. Perhaps pick up a book that has been threatened. Many books we consider classics have been challenged at one time or another.