Every year, the American Library Association celebrates Banned Books Week; 2012 marks the 30th anniversary of the event that asks book lovers to "celebrate the freedom to read." What Banned Books Week offers teachers and parents is the opportunity to have some serious conversations with children about the ideas surrounding censorship, reading, and the power of persuasive opinions, especially because many of the books on the ALA's lists are intended for children.
A variety of resources for creating and supporting Banned Books Week activities are available online, including:
- Challenged Children's Books list and links from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
- suggested activities from Scholastic.com,
- ReadWriteThink's lesson plans for Banned Books Week, and
- TeachHub.com's article on "12 Banned Books Week Classroom Activities."
Which banned book do you plan on reading this week in celebration? I'll be picking up the sequel to a banned book coming out this week--Lois Lowry's Son, the final book in her series that started with the banned book, The Giver.