"Banning books, silences stories. Speak Out." was the national theme centered around Banned Books Week, Sept. 23-29.
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School of Education students, faculty, and staff used Banned Books Week as an opportunity to raise awareness about censorship.
On Thursday, Sept. 27, faculty, staff, and students gathered in the lobby of Mooney Building to read from highly regarded books that have been challenged or banned.
Joan Barnatt, associate professor of education, read an excerpt from “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling. The entire “Harry Potter” series is at the very top of the American Library Association’s “Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books from 2000 to 2009” list. This series was banned from school libraries because it has “a serious tone of death, hate, lack of respect, and sheer evil” and “encourages children to practice witchcraft.”
<span style=”font-size: 13.9997px;”>Joan Barnatt, associate professor of education, reading an excerpt from "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling. </span>Kenneth Brown Jr., senior human services studies major and executive president of SGA, read an excerpt from Maya Angelo’s autobiographical, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” This book has been challenged numerous times by parents who objected to the book’s depiction of sexually explicit scenes, including rape and molestation suffered by author as an eight-year-old.
<span style=”font-size: 13.9997px;”>Kenneth Brown Jr. senior human services studies major and executive president of SGA, reading an excerpt from Maya Angelo's autobiographical, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." </span>Excerpts were also read from “The Giver” by Lois Lowry; “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee; “All American Boys” by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely; “The House of the Spirits” by Isabel Allende; “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle; “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury; and picture books, “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss and “And Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, which caused quite a stir among parents for being “unsuitable for young children” and for having “homosexual overtones.”
Staff from the Belk Library and Curriculum Resources Center joined forces on Tuesday, Sept. 25, to celebrate the freedom to read at College Coffee where members of the Elon community could take a picture with a challenged book and enter a drawing to win a banned book.
#BannedBooksWeek events were organized by Allison Bryan, director of the Curriculum Resources Center, and her staff.
On Thursday, Sept. 27, faculty, staff, and students gathered in the lobby of Mooney Building to read from highly regarded books that have been challenged or banned.
