Common Core Standards and Banned Books Week: A Thematic Guide to Introducing Banned and Challenged Books in the Classroom

by Pat R. Scales

Banned Books Week is celebrated the last full week in September and strives to make the public aware of books that have been banned or challenged in schools and public libraries, as well as in bookstores and other venues. Founded in 1982, the event is sponsored by the American Library Association, American Booksellers Association, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the Association of American Publishers. The activities that champion the freedom to read during Banned Books Week include displays of banned or challenged books and read-outs in communities across the nation. In 2012, the American Library Association marked the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week by asking libraries in every state to participate in a virtual read-out. Recordings of these read-outs and of writers talking about challenges to their books are posted on a Banned Books Week Channel on YouTube. Students should understand that they do have the freedom to read, and they should use this week to become aware of attempts to abridge their rights.

33 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 2, 2014

About the author

Pat R. Scales is a retired middle and high school librarian whose programs have been featured on the Today Show and in various professional journals. She has also served as an adjunct instructor of children’s and young adult literature at Furman University and has been a guest lecturer at universities across the nation. A First Amendment advocate, she is a former chair of ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee and serves on the Board of Advisors of the National Coalition against Censorship. She is a past president of the Association of Library Service for Children, and in 2011 received the Distinguished Service Award. She chaired the 1992 Newbery Award Committee, the 2003 Caldecott Award Committee, and the 2001 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award Committee. She writes for Book Links magazine and a bimonthly column for School Library Journal. Her books include Books under Fire: A Hit List of Banned and Challenged Children's Books, Second Edition; Teaching Banned Books: 32 Guides for Children and Teens, Second Edition; and Protecting Intellectual Freedom in Your School Library.

Reviews

[Charles van Buren · Rating 1 out of 5]

Banned?

Review of free Kindle edition
Publication date: September 2, 2014
Publisher: Open Road Media Young Readers
Language: English
ASIN: B00MO0MZOS
28 pages

To understand the fundamental problem with this book, one needs to understand the American Library Association and its definition of banned books. The ALA banned lists include any books 'challenged', including those not actually banned anywhere. The group seems to have no interest in why a book was 'challenged '. Most are 'challenged' over issues of age appropriateness not over the content itself.

The Intellectual Freedom Manual of the ALA, defines censorship as “a change in the access status of a material, based on the content of the work and made by a governing authority or its representatives. Such changes include exclusion, restriction, removal, or age-grade-level access limitations.”  If that is the definition, then ALA members themselves engage in censorship every time they decide which books to place in a children's section and which to exclude. THUS THE ISSUE IS ACTUALLY WHO DECIDES. The ALA tries to claim the moral high ground by using emotionally ladened terms such as censorship and banned books and by implying that those who disagree are troglodytes, luddites or worse.

If you believe that 'authorities' of some sort rather than parents should decide what children read, that parents should have little or no input, then you will likely have little problem with this book and the philosophy behind it. Meanwhile, those of us who believe otherwise will continue to be castigated by the ALA and their allies. In their script, the ALA is always the martyr, suffering because of their fight for right.

[Jeimy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It offers some interesting ideas for Banned Books Week. I just wish it had been available sooner. As it is, I am implementing several next year.

[Thiala · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Ideas

This book has a lot of really good ideas in it for teachers who want to teach their students about banned books.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

While a reading sample (ad) for the books on the cover, this freebie has some good ideas for Banned Book Week for teachers and parents.