In addition to our sponsors, Banned Books Week received generous support from Penguin Random House and DKT Liberty Project. Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. 1  The Top Ten Challenged Books of 2016 are: 2  This One Summer written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki.