Hey everybody, it’s Banned Books Week! And just like last year, Shirley Nuhn’s English as a Second Language students will be helping us celebrate through heartfelt podcasts. Each day of this week, we will be featuring a new podcast, so stay tuned!

According to the American Library Association, Banned Books Week is an annual celebration of the freedom to read by the entire book community, including librarians, publishers, teachers, and students.  This year’s theme is “Celebrating Diversity,” which is especially relevant as we listen to podcasts from students from around the world!

Our first podcast comes from Faiza Mebarki of ESL 32:

Transcript:

“Every year, so many attempts are made to remove books from USA schools and libraries. It’s because of the controversy that these books contain, like sexually explicit, violent, and satanic content, and more. Therefore, the annual celebration of Banned Books Week comes to give everybody the freedom to read his or her favorite book, such as Fifty Shades of Gray, Harry Potter series, and others. I think all people have the right to write and read any book they want. As we all know, we are creatively different, so we shouldn’t expect only the same ideas and points of views. And I think that reading books from different perspectives gives us the way to think differently, change the world into a better place, and explore more. Knowledge is power, and to get this power, I truly believe we should read more books and be free to choose the ones we are interested in. So go and fight for the gift of reading! I am Faiza Mebarki from ESL 32.”