What can you do to protect intellectual freedom where YOU live? 

Talk to your school or public librarian. Ask him or her if challenges have ever occurred in your school or community. Get informed! 

Start a dialog with your friends about book banning.  Even if you don't all agree, it's better not to be silent! And it's good to push people to articulate the reasons they fear certain books, and to ask them to listen to another point of view.

Ask your English teacher if you can have a conversation in class about the topic. 

Also: READ. Here's a list of the top ten banned books for 2009 (and here's the link).  I am proud to say that I am friends with two of these authors! Carolyn Mackler and Lauren Myracle. I have read their books and recommended them to many.  I am also proud to say I've read 8 of the ten books on this list. 

How 'bout you go buy one this week? And read it!  All but The Color Purple, My Sister's Keeper and The Catcher in the Rye are written and published for young readers. And Tango Makes Three is a picture book. 

Out of 460 challenges as reported to the Office for Intellectual Freedom 
1. ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle 
Reasons: drugs, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
2. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson 
Reasons: homosexuality 
3. The Perks of Being A Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky 
Reasons: anti-family, drugs, homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited to age group
4. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee 
Reasons: offensive language, racism, unsuited to age group 
5. Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer 
Reasons: religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group 
6. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger 
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group 
7. My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult 
Reasons: homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, violence
8. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler 
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group 
9. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker 
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
10. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier 
Reasons: nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group