Banned Books Week started on Sunday and runs through Saturday, but at the Peter White Public Library, the topic will be a theme throughout this month.

The library is holding a Banned and Challenged Books Bingo for adults, teens and children. Participants read three books listed on special cards — or for children, three anywhere — and return the completed cards for a chance to win a Snowbound Books gift card. Individuals can earn a Bingo as many times as they want in the month.

Cards are available at pwpl.info under Events or at any service desk in the library.

Books on the Bingo cards include “Beloved” by Toni Morrison, “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood, “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini and “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon.

Sarah Rehborg, PWPL Youth Services librarian, indicated that the library also will have a pop-up interactive banned books display and a “Reading Unites Us” book reading.

Rehborg said people should celebrate their right to read by reading a banned or challenged book this month.

According to bannedbooksweek.org, the event typically is held during the last week of September and highlights the value of free and open access to information. This year’s theme is “Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us.”

PWPL indicated on its website that the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 729 challenges to library, school and university materials and services in 2021, which resulted in over 1,597 individual book challenges or removals.

MLive reported that Patmos Library, located in downstate Ottawa County, is asking voters again in October to approve a millage request that was voted down in the primary election amid controversy over the library carrying LGTBQ books. The Jamestown Township Library Board submitted its proposal to the county clerk’s office in mid-August.

Because of the failed millage, Patmos Library might lose 84% of its $245,000 annual budget if voters don’t approve the funding, MLive reported.

It should be noted that the Jamestown Township Library Board’s belief is to keep the LGTBQ books on the shelves.

We applaud the library for coming up with such a creative way to teach about banned — and challenged — books and, of course, the dangers of censorship.

Some people might not like what’s in a particular book, but others might appreciate it. They need to make their own decisions about content, and censorship takes away those choices.

If you don’t agree with a book, don’t read or buy it, but don’t tell others they cannot.

Can you imagine American culture without “To Kill a Mockingbird”? We wouldn’t want to, and you probably wouldn’t either.

By the way, that book is on the PWPL’s Banned and Challenged Books Bingo card.