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Archived-A Year of Banned Books
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A Year of Banned Books Info
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We are going to spend the year reading banned books. Each month two will be highlighted and available for discussion. Participation in a group discussion is not required to complete the challenge but will entitle you to earn the badge for that book. In addition you can earn badges for participation - 6 books for bronze, 12 books for silver and 24 books for gold.
Book discussions will start on the 1st and 15th each month.
The first book each month is older (sometimes MUCH older), to give a sense of how profoundly this issue has impacted authors, readers and society throughout history. PEN America sums up the issue: "Books are under profound attack in the United States. They are disappearing from library shelves, being challenged in droves, being decreed off limits by school boards, legislators, and prison authorities. And everywhere, it is the books that have long fought for a place on the shelf that are being targeted. Books by authors of color, by LGBTQ+ authors, by women. Books about racism, sexuality, gender, history."
Alternative books are provided for the 5 oldest books if you are less interested in the historical aspect of the issue of censorship in publishing (but these are still older books generally - it is important to get a feel for how enduring this issue is). The alternative books won't have discussion threads or badges specific to them, but will allow you to complete enough books for the bronze, silver or gold badges.
Rereads allowed.
Due to the sensitive nature of many of the topics contained in the banned books we are reading, we ask for everyone to be respectful in any discussion posts. Hateful content in any discussion posts is cause for removal (and yes, we see the irony in that but unfortunately it is necessary).
We hope this challenge makes you a banned book reader for life!
Resources to further explore the issues raised by this challenge. This is a short list - there are more!
American Library Association Banned & Challenged Books https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/b...
Banned Books Week Coalition https://bannedbooksweek.org/
National Coalition Against Censorship https://ncac.org
National Council of Teachers of English Intellectual Freedom Center https://ncte.org/resources/ncte-intel...
Pen America The Freedom to Write https://pen.org/issue/book-bans/