American Library Association

Once a month, the San Fernando Library's librarians trade their reading glasses for video-game controllers and invite children to come crank up the volume. Elias Ponce and about a dozen teenagers shuffle past the stacks of books to the youth section and play "Guitar Hero," a game that lets them pretend they're in a rock band. "It makes the library a fun place," said Ponce, a 13-year-old eighth-grader who says he now goes to the library every day even when there are no games.

The number of books threatened with removal from library shelves dropped last year to its lowest total on record, with 405 challenges reported to the American Library Assn. The ALA has been tracking efforts to pull texts since the early 1980s, when it helped found Banned Books Week as a celebration of free expression. The 25th annual "Banned Books" program takes place Sept. 23-30 as libraries and bookstores highlight works that have been removed or faced removal.

A book about a Japanese American girl growing up in the South and another about a kitten who mistakes the moon for her bowl of milk garnered top honors on Monday from the American Library Assn. "Kira-Kira," by Cynthia Kadohata, received the 2005 John Newbery Medal at the ALA's annual meeting in Boston. The award honors outstanding writing in a book for young people. A 15-member committee of librarians and children's literature experts selected "Kira-Kira," said committee head Susan Faust.