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- A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group.
- A banning is the removal of those materials.
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George Takei gets candid about coming out in new memoir | Good Morning AmericaThe “Star Trek” actor, author and activist tells his own coming out story in “It Rhymes with Takei.”
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George Takei Shares “My Lost Freedom” | Library of CongressAward-winning author, actor and civil rights advocate George Takei discusses his new book, "My Lost Freedom: A Japanese American World War II Story." What happens when the world as you know it disappears? In 1942, two months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared anyone of Japanese descent living on the West Coast to be an enemy of the United States. Four-year-old George Takei and his family were American in every way, but because of their Japanese ancestry, they were removed from their home in California and forced into camps with thousands of similar families. Learn about Takei's childhood as an enemy in his own country and his adulthood as a beloved icon.
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It Rhymes with Takei
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Following the award-winning bestseller They Called Us Enemy, George Takei's new full-color graphic memoir reveals his most personal story of all-told in full for the first time anywhere! George Takei has shown the world many faces- actor, author, outspoken activist, helmsman of the starship Enterprise, living witness to the internment of Japanese Americans, and king of social media. But until October 27, 2005, there was always one piece missing-one face he did not show the world. There was one very intimate fact about George that he never shared...and it rhymes with Takei. Now, for the first time ever, George shares the full story of his life in the closet, his decision to come out as gay at the age of 68, and the way that moment transformed everything. Following the phenomenal success of his first graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy, George Takei reunites with the team of Harmony Becker, Steven Scott, and Justin Eisinger for a jaw-dropping new testament. From his earliest childhood crushes and youthful experiments in the rigidly conformist 1950s, to global fame as an actor and the terrible fear of exposure, to the watershed moment of speaking his truth and becoming one of the most high-profile gay men on the planet, It Rhymes with Takei offers a sweeping portrait of one iconic American navigating the tides of LGBTQ+ history. Combining historical context with intimate subjectivity, It Rhymes with Takei shows how the personal and the political have always been intertwined. Its richly emotional words and images depict the terror of entrapment even in gay community spaces, the anguish of speaking up for so many issues while remaining silent on his most personal issue, the grief of losing friends to AIDS, the joy of finding true love with Brad Altman, and the determination to declare that love openly-and legally-before the whole world. Looking back on his astonishing life on both sides of the closet door, George Takei presents a charismatic and candid account of how far America has come...and how precious that progress is.
ISBN: 9781603095747Publication Date: 2025 -
My Lost Freedom: A Japanese American World War II Story
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER . A CALIBA GOLDEN POPPY AWARD WINNER . A moving, beautifully illustrated true story for children ages 6 to 9 about growing up in Japanese American incarceration camps during World War II-from the iconic Star Trek actor, activist, and author of the New York Times bestselling graphic memoir They Called Us Enemy. February 19, 1942. George Takei is four years old when his world changes forever. Two months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares anyone of Japanese descent an enemy of the United States. George and his family were American in every way. They had done nothing wrong. But because of their Japanese ancestry, they were removed from their home in California and forced into camps with thousands of other families who looked like theirs. Over the next three years, George had three different "homes"- the Santa Anita racetrack, swampy Camp Rohwer, and infamous Tule Lake. But even though they were now living behind barbed wire fences and surrounded by armed soldiers, his mother and father did everything they could to keep the family safe. In My Lost Freedom, George Takei looks back at his own memories to help children today understand what it feels like to be treated as an enemy by your own country. Featuring powerful, meticulously researched watercolor paintings, this is a story of a family's courage, a young boy's resilience, and the importance of staying true to yourself in the face of injustice.
ISBN: 9780593566350Publication Date: 2024 -
They Called Us Enemy
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Call Number: GRNV D769.8.A6 T355 2019ISBN: 9781603094504Publication Date: 2019 -
50 Years of Intellectual Freedom: The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom celebrates its historyThis December [2017], OIF is celebrating 50 years of fighting for intellectual freedom: half a century of championing libraries, finding allies within the literary community, and aiding librarians in times of high anxiety. It’s an evolving role to be cherished and safeguarded.
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Access DeniedFlorida teachers discuss life and lessons in classrooms without books
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Banned in the USA: State Laws Supercharge Book Suppression in SchoolsUpdate on Book Bans in the 2022-2023 School Year Shows Expanded Censorship of Themes Centered on Race, History, Sexual Orientation and Gender
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Banning Books Is a Modern-Day American Horror StoryWe Must Expose This Injustice as a Threat to Civil Rights and Liberties
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Beyond Book Bans | CensorshipCensorship efforts in the 2020s have moved beyond concerned parents to include restrictive legislation, library board power plays, and defunding
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Bills Target LibrariansThe article reports on the bills being considered by U.S. legislators that would change the criminal code for obscenity laws and make it possible to charge public and school librarians with a crime based on the books in their collection or content of their lessons. Topics include comments from EveryLibrary executive director John Chrastka, the legislative focus on public and school librarians, and the support of EveryLibrary for librarians in eight states in their work to defeat the bills.
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Book Bans Affect Everybody — Here’s How You Can HelpI’m just one librarian and educator. I don’t have all the answers, and the ones I do are rooted in my personal feelings as much as my professional knowledge. A single article cannot include everything you need to know, but I can offer some strategies for both stopping bans before they happen and what to do after the ban is in place.
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Call Number with American Libraries Podcast: It Could Happen to YouThis episode of Call Number (formerly known as Dewey Decibel) looks at book banning, challenges, and censorship with three individuals at the forefront of the conversation.
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Censorship Beyond Books: Librarians share experiences of challenges to displays, exhibits, and moreAs she compiled data on challenges to library materials for National Library Week last year, Kristin Pekoll, assistant director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF), noticed an odd trend: public libraries were nearly tied with school libraries in the frequency of challenges.
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People Get Ready: Preparing for Challenges | CensorshipLibrary leaders, staff, and boards need to be prepared for increasingly sophisticated attacks on readers’ rights
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STATES THAT HAVE ENACTED BOOK BAN LAWS: BOOK CENSORSHIP NEWS, AUGUST 26, 2022As the new school year kicks off — or is already in progress in many places — it’s worth taking a look at the states which have enacted laws that ban books. This guide is not comprehensive, but gives an overview of the legislation currently on the books that will impact how teachers and librarians select and share reading material in classrooms and libraries.
Banned Books
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About Banned Books Week
Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship. The American Library Association condemns censorship and works to ensure free access to information.
What's the difference between a challenge and a banning?
Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. Due to the commitment of librarians, teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens, most challenges are unsuccessful and most materials are retained in the school curriculum or library collection.
Banned Books Weeks 2025 is scheduled for October 5-11.
"About Banned & Challenged Books", American Library Association, December 10, 2012.
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/aboutbannedbooks
Banned Books Week Honorary Chair
George Takei to Lead 2025 Banned Books Week as Honorary Chair
George Takei is a civil rights activist, social media superstar, Grammy-nominated recording artist, New York Times bestselling author, and pioneering actor whose career has spanned six decades. He has appeared in more than 40 feature films and hundreds of television roles, most famously as Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek. He has used his success as a platform to fight for justice on a wide range of issues, particularly those facing the Japanese American and LGBTQIA+ communities. His advocacy is personal: during World War II, Takei spent his childhood unjustly imprisoned in United States incarceration camps along with 125,000 other Japanese Americans. He also spent the first 68 years of his life closeted, finally coming out as gay in 2005 to become a tireless advocate for marriage equality. His books include the autobiography To the Stars, the award-winning graphic memoir They Called Us Enemy, and the children’s picture book My Lost Freedom: A Japanese American World War II Story. In 2025, he reunited with the team behind They Called Us Enemy for a new graphic memoir reflecting on his life on both sides of the closet door, titled It Rhymes With Takei.
Learn more about George Takei, the Banned Books Week Coalition, and the American Library Association at Banned & Challenged Books.
Image Credit: Christopher Appoldt
