‘Censorship Is So 1984. Read for Your Rights.’

That’s the theme of the 44th annual Banned Books Week, organized each year by the American Library Association. Since 1982, the ALA and libraries across the country have used Banned Books Week to draw attention to censorship issues. George Orwell’s 1949 novel was about political leaders with the power to spy on regular people in their homes, altering history and even language in order to stay in power. It’s also where the idea of Big Brother originates (as in “Big Brother is watching you”).

The Rhode Island Library Association and ACLU of Rhode Island host a Banned Books Week event every year, and on Monday people gathered to discuss 1984.

“As an organization that champions free speech, the ACLU of RI has always advocated against book bans and censorship,” Communications Associate Zoe Chakoian said in a statement. “We thought it was especially timely to connect some of the major themes from the dystopian novel — including government surveillance, censorship and individuality and identity — to real threats to civil liberties we’re facing today.”

Though the book is over 70 years old, its ideas are still relevant and still controversial. In fact, Orwell’s novel was banned last year in Virginia’s King George County School District. A more recent graphic-novel adaptation of 1984 was banned this summer in Florida’s Union County School District. That’s according to data from PEN America, an organization that tracks book bans and challenges in schools across the country.

What does it mean to
challenge a book?

A challenge is what happens if someone tells a librarian that they would like to see a book (or movie, or other materials) removed from the collection. The review process that follows depends on the policy of that particular library system. And if the library decides to permanently remove the book, it is considered banned.

Challenges happen sometimes in New England, but book bans are relatively rare here compared with states like Florida, where 2,304 books were banned during the 2024-2025 school year. However, data from the group Rhode Island Authors Against Book Bans shows that the Ocean State is not immune to censorship.

In testimony supporting the Freedom To Read Act — more on that in a minute — Rhode Island Authors Against Book Bans says 35 books were challenged in the state between 2020 and 2024. Additionally, the group counts 15 books by 11 Rhode Island authors that have been challenged in public libraries and school libraries around the country since 2020. These books were mainly picture books and books for middle grade and young adult readers.

Warwick Public Library Director Aaron Coutu-Jones says that traditionally, challenges occur when one person — a public library patron or a parent — expresses concern over a specific title they have encountered. “Parents and adults don’t want to see children harmed,” he says. “That’s natural. But now it’s become politicized, and some people who challenge books — not all people, but some people — aren’t just concerned about one book. They are fed lists of books by certain organized groups that collect lists of materials. Then one person will submit 30 or 40 book challenges at once. Often these people are not even local residents, they’re people from across the country who have taken this on as their mission. It’s almost like a crusade.”

The Central Library in Warwick has a Banned Books display up right now near its front entrance, featuring titles that are currently controversial across the country as well as those that have drawn attention in the past. Displays like this are common in public libraries each fall. The Warwick display also features information about book bans and challenges across the country.

Both the ALA and PEN America release annual lists of books that are frequently challenged or banned. The ALA list, which includes public libraries, frequently features some of the same books year after year: Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye, for instance, or Stephen Chbosky’s 1999 teen novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Others come and go as reading trends change. The PEN America list, which focuses on school libraries, is topped this year by Anthony Burgess’s frightening 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange. Other titles on the list include Malinda Lo’s National Book Award winner Last Night at the Telegraph Club and Wicked, the Gregory Maguire novel that later became a Broadway musical and hit 2024 film.

RI’s Freedom To Read Act

This summer, Rhode Island joined a growing number of states in enacting a Freedom To Read Act. The bill was introduced in both General Assembly chambers by Warwick Sen. Mark McKenney (D-District 30) and Providence Rep. David Morales (D-District 7), both of whom are active in the state’s library community.

Morales stresses that the bill was a group effort. “A few years back, a coalition of authors, librarians, students and families came together,” he said. “Over the course of just a few months there had been 20 local book challenges.” In other parts of the country, he said, “people were harassing librarians in person and demanding that books be pulled from the shelves. This creates a dangerous environment and could send a chilling precedent.”

“We can decide what books we want to check out from the library, and we can decide what our own children read or don’t read,” McKenney said when the bill passed in June. “But what we can’t do is decide what everyone else gets to read or what other people’s children get to read or not read.”

“The law provides some critical protections for libraries and librarians acting in their professional capacity, and will help prevent censorship in our state,” says Chakoian.

“Rhode Island’s Freedom To Read Act is the most comprehensive in the country,” Morales says, “because it includes protections for public librarians, school librarians and also authors and creators. Authors can be awarded damages if their books are inappropriately censored.

“The process for review is spelled out and clearly documented. Rhode Island now has thoughtful policies in place, and if there are concerns, there is a process for them to be immediately resolved to make sure that no child is exposed to anything indecent.”

Warwick Republican state Rep. Marie Hopkins disagrees. “I was on board with the sentiment of the bill and carefully considered/leaned toward support,” she wrote via email, but she felt “the bill gave blanket immunity to librarians. I question the intent of that.” She also questions the limited amount of parental involvement in the decision making.

“I had suggested the bill would have been supported by Republicans if it had a few simple language changes,” she says. (The vote split along party lines.) “It was not a bad bill. It was just badly written. That matters.”

“I think for me it’s about reminding our parents that Rhode Island now has thoughtful policies in place,” Morales says, “and if there are concerns, there is a process for them to be immediately resolved to make sure that no child is exposed to anything indecent.”

Coutu-Jones said he has experienced only one book challenge in his three years as library director. “The process went as it’s designed to,” he said. “It was a non-fiction title. We reviewed the material, and while we ultimately agreed to keep the book, we agreed to provide other, more recent books on that topic to provide additional information.”

“You have to be a resident of the city or a cardholder in the state” to challenge a book, Coutu-Jones says about Warwick’s policy. (He notes that interlibrary loan means that the library serves patrons across the state, not just city residents.)

“We try to have something for everybody, but it’s for people to choose for themselves or for their children what they read,” Coutu-Jones says. “Just because we have something in the collection doesn’t mean we’re forcing anyone to read it.”