Banned Book Club

The books most frequently challenged have certain themes in common:

• LGBTQ topics or characters.

• Race and racism, or that center on protagonists of color topics.

• Contain sex, abortion, teen pregnancy or puberty.

• Contain history, specifically that of Black people.

Cargill UMC supports open and honest conversations about these and other topics and believes that can’t happen if young people are not allowed to read books. To raise awareness of what amounts to censorship in schools, anyone interested meets to discuss one of the banned books approximately every six weeks. In addition to discussing themes, characters, and plot development, we also discuss why the book was challenged, whether or not it should have been challenged, and how the challenge affects viewpoints are discussed.

Visit the Church Calendar for our most recent banned book and discussion date.

The American Library Association (ALA) monitors book bans in school districts across the nation.

Disclaimer: the books are not all really banned; most are “challenged” in an attempt to remove or restrict materials based on their content.