Last week, I traveled to the Upper School for their morning assembly and Middle School lunch to do a quick plug about Banned and Challenged Books Week sponsored by the American Library Association and Amnesty International. The purpose is to bring awareness to readers that there are individuals or groups with ideas about what books should be (or not be) available to readers, which goes against our First Amendment Rights as American citizens. Both books targeted for adults, as well as children are listed. It is always interesting to see the reactions of students when you mention books like, Captain Underpants, The Holy Bible, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, etc., that have been on the list in previous years.  I know that there was quite a bit of discussion after the presentations in the classrooms and in clubs last week. 

A cart of books, that have been banned or challenged in schools and libraries around the country, was set up in the US Lobby last week to review and checkout. One of our US parents, Clif Turman,  took a picture of the book cart. The books have been picked up and are now on display in the MS/US Library for the remainder of the month. If you would like more information or see some of the past lists of banned and challenged books over the years, please go to http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/banned. 

Please be assured, that although I support every person’s right to read, I also support the rights of the parent.  Our library collection supports our entire population from PK through college level and books that are targeted to adults, including classics or best seller lists. If you ever want your student to not check out a certain book or series, please let me know. Also, if I feel your student wants to check out a book that they are not quite ready to read because of interest level, I will contact you before letting them check it out.