Together with other ninety five titles they are listed as Banned and Challenged Classics .
This year the Banned Book Week is the week of September 26 - October 3. Talking about banned books brings so called samizdat to my memory. Books that were blocked for Soviet society were self-published (typed with mechanical typewriters) as an opposition to censorship. The Russian intelligentsia copied the most desirable titles, often masterpieces, to be circulated among families and read within a very short time. One story tells about a mother who could not make her daughter reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (the book that they had on the bookshelf at home). The mother typed it with a typewriter and "brought" home as a self-published book. The daughter finished reading it in two days! Hedrick Smith in his book The Russians wrote about a samizdat virsion of Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward and a three-volume Western edition of the complete poetry of the late Anna Akhmatova as well as novels by the late Mikhail Bulgakov, including Master and Margarita (Smith 1976, p.90).
Celebrating the Banned Books Week reaffirms our privileges to access and treat information appropriately. In a democratic society, we can read without restrictions. At the same time it is necessary to be educated to evaluate information and think critically. "Most attempts at suppression rest on a denial of the fundamental premise of democracy: that the ordinary individual, by exercising critical judgment, will select the good and reject the bad. We trust Americans to recognize propaganda and misinformation, and to make their own decisions about what they read and believe. We do not believe they are prepared to sacrifice their heritage of a free press in order to be "protected" against what others think may be bad for them. We believe they still favor free enterprise in ideas and expression," -the Freedom to Read Statement highlights.
School librarians receive a special call to model right attitude toward banned and challenged books and web sites and educate students to evaluate the resources. Doug Johnson says that "we teach our users to be critical users of information" (Doug Johnson, "Lessons School Librarians teach Others". American Libraries, December 2004, pp. 46-48).
Information Literacy classes at AIS cover issues of accessing, choosing, evaluating information, using it ethically, and producing new information with responsibility. In our classes we talk about disseminating information and staying safe when disclose personal data online. We enjoy discovering library resources and learn about books.
Banned Books Activities: To participate in the Banned Books Week and help kids understand its concept, teachers can use activities suggested by Pat Scales in her article “Too Much Information?” (School Library Journal, Sep2008, Vol. 54 Issue 9, p27-27):
• With the youngest children, ask them to recite a few familiar Mother Goose rhymes. Tell them that some people think kids shouldn't read those rhymes. Then read aloud "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater," "There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe," "Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son," and "Humpty Dumpty." Have your class brainstorm the reasons why some people may object to them. Explain that in our country we have the freedom to read these rhymes or anything else we choose. Point out that what students read is between them and their parents.
• Ask your students to draw a picture of "freedom." Then have them add the title or a picture of their favorite book to their drawings. Discuss the reasons why you asked them to do that.
• Encourage kids to name a book that they've never finished. Why did they stop reading it? Did they find the book boring? Was there something that offended them? During the discussion, let students know that their opinions count. Explain that every reader is different. Some like fantasies, others like realistic stories. Many readers prefer nonfiction, and some crave historical novels. That's why libraries need to offer many different kinds of books. Talk about the phrase "freedom to read." Discuss the connection between the freedom to read and the freedom to stop reading a book they simply don't enjoy.
• Display some of your upper-elementary-school students' favorite books that have been challenged, such as Charlotte's Web, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Holes, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, and Bridge to Terabithia. Have your students pretend they're having a conversation with someone who thinks they shouldn't read those books. What might they say to that person?
Your suggestions and feedback are highly appreciated. You can leave them here.
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