Competency #8 - Internet

With all this talk about challenged and banned books, I thought for this competency it would be appropriate to discuss Banned Book Week. Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than a thousand books have been challenged since 1982. September 26 - October 3, 2009, can be one week in time where we can celebrate intellectual freedom.

http://bannedbooksweek.org/

Anyone may Google banned book week for information on how you can get involved in your area.

Photo courtesy of Banned Books Week.

Competency #3 - Challeneged Book Podcast

I easily found a podcast about challenged books on youtube.com. This podcast is titled ZORN_Banned Books Final and I am assuming it was created for an assignment at the State University of NY Brockport. The author gives a brief history about challenged and banned books as well as book burnings. Her video has a mock courtroom with some internationally known titles such as Catcher In the Rye, James and the Giant Peach and Diary of a Young Girl, taking the stand in a court of law. Her parody of a book being on trial is humorous and it's surprising to see so many popular books were challenged at one point.

She then discusses in short;

Who can challenge a book?
What happens to the challenged book?
Why are books challenged?

The author feels that challenged and banned books is a form of censorship and everyone has the right to have access to all information, read all materials and the right to express opinions no matter how unpopular. She also give us some interesting facts such as between the years 1990 and 2000, 6,364 books were challenged.

Here is a link to the entire podcast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40yZRj5Ara4

Competency #2 - Top Ten Challenged Books of 2008

Libraryland Roundup is a great blog for "collection managers, reference providers, reader's advisors, the technically inclined, and other denizens of libraryland." It was easily accessed using blogsearch.google.com

The ALA’s Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2008: April 26, 2009

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

2. His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman

3. TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren Myracle

4. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz

5. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya

6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen

7. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von

8. Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen

9. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini

10. Flashcards of My Life, by Charise Mericle Harper

These titles were challenged due to such themes as homosexuality, satanism, offensive language and religious viewpoints etc. For a comprehensive list click the link below.

http://librarylandroundup.blogspot.com/2009/04/top-ten-challenged-books-2008.html

Photo courtesy of Library Roundup