Friday, September 23, 2011

Interesting Nonfiction for Kids - Banned Book Week













Tomorrow starts Banned Book Week!
From the American Library Association's page: 
September 24−October 1, 2011
Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.  Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.
Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week.  BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.
The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings.  Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections.  Imagine how many more books might be challenged—and possibly banned or restricted—if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.
Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; and the National Association of College Stores.  It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. In 2011, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; National Coalition Against Censorship; National Council of Teachers of English; and PEN American Center also signed on as sponsors.
For more information on getting involved with Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read, please see Calendar of Events, Ideas and Resources, and the new Banned Books Week site. You can also contact the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 4220, or bbw@ala.org.

Check out:
The new Banned Books Website
The new Banned Books Week Facebook Page  (And "Like")
And, follow the discussions on Twitter at the hashtag #bannedbooksweek

Love to hear your favorite Banned Children's Nonfiction Books in the comments.

2 comments:

Susan E. Goodman said...

But there are so many of them: To Kill a Mockingbird, It's Perfectly Normal, The Giver, The Golden Compass, And Tango Makes Three, Bridge to Terebithia.

If only Mark Twain were alive, I would love to here what he'd say about being on the list so often.

Anonymous said...

Hi,
What happened to the Taking the Plunge post? It's on my Google Reader, but not on the blogsite. I would rather have emailed, but I think I keep overlooking the email link on your blog.