Banned Books! Gadsden Reads

I love that in my community, Gadsden, Alabama, the local library and center for cultural arts come together to participate in the National Education Association's Big Read programs. Gadsden has participated in The Big Fish read, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Prince of Frogtown, and The Shawl. During this community-wide event, various opportunities to discuss or learn more about the book are available to the public. For The Prince of Frogtown, the author, Rick Bragg, came to Gadsden and participated in a question-answer session, as well as signed books for the public.  Most of these events are hosted during the school year, thus allowing teachers and school                                                         librarians to become involved in the activities offered.

This year, the Gadsden Public Library (GPL) will be celebrating "Banned Books Week" (September 22-27) in partnership with the NEA Big Read program. The book they have chosen to read is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The wonderful librarians at GPL invited the English teachers and librarians from local schools to participate in a workshop about all of the events they will be hosting for the Big Read program.

Alice in Wonderland Book Art

I really love that the GPL offers art workshops for teenagers after school from 4:30-6:30pm. The students come together to create art based on books or about the structure of books. For the Big Read program, the students will be creating "Sticks and Stones Boxes." This will consist of a box full of quotes from their favorite banned books. At the workshop that I attended, the librarians has some amazing art on display.




 I have a lot of fun activities planned for my students during Banned Book Week, so stay tuned for some exciting lessons!

In an effort to help teachers to have as many resources and support as possible, the librarians provided us with a lot of online resources. I will share them below, happy reading!

Fahrenheit 451 NEA Big Read

American Library Association Banned and Challenged Books

Read, Write, Think Censorship Lessons

http://www.gadsdenlibrary.org/