There is a long history of banning or censoring of books.
Some of the reasons include:
How are books banned?
Books may be banned by goverments as in Nazi Germany, customs officials in countries such as the U.S and Australia.
In the U.S, books can be banned by school boards which can be made up of parents, principals, teachers and others opposed to the content of a book. Books can also be banned by state or education district in the U.S.
In Australia, books were banned or censored for a variety of reasons. These reasons often included that the books were 'obscene, blasphemous or excessively violent.
See the following link.
The books Australia banned (australiangeographic.com.au)
Up until 1970, Australian customs officials banned nearly 15,000 titles.
The Australian censorship laws were challenged by publishers in the 1970s and with the arrival of the new Labor government under Gough Whitlam, the ability to ban books by the Customs department was dismantled.
Banned Book Week
September 22-28, 2024
Banned Books Week is run by the American Library Association and Amnesty International and is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. It brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.
Banned & Challenged Books | Advocacy, Legislation & Issues (ala.org)
Some background to Banned Book Week from an Australian school library.
Have you given your students these banned books? - SchoolNews - Australia (school-news.com.au)
The Complete MAUS by 
Background information to why and how books are banned in the US, from PEN America.
Banned in the USA: The Growing Movement to Ban Books - PEN America
An older list, but still relevant, of books banned in the U.S from 2010-2019
Top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books: 2010-2019 | Advocacy, Legislation & Issues (ala.org)
Censorship history
Below are some links to censorship history and background to some books.
Article on the censorship of the book, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, first published in 1928.
Literature - Article - Censorship History of All Quiet on the Western Front (infobase.com)
Article on censorship of Ulysses by James Joyce
Literature - Article - Censorship History of Ulysses (infobase.com)
Article on censorship of Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D H Lawrence
The History of Censorship Behind 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' | Time
Article on the banning of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and other books.
University of Virginia Library Online Exhibits | CENSORED: Wielding the Red Pen
Article on the effects of banning books and how it may or may not affect readers.
‘Book bans gain traction in cultures that imagine themselves as upholding a barrier between the purity of children and the corruption of the world.’
Book bans reflect outdated beliefs about how children read (theconversation.com)
