Once again, this year Professor Shirley Nuhn’s ESL students are creating podcasts that discuss Banned Books Week, which runs from Sept. 21-27. Links to their podcasts are included below. NOVA Annandale ESL students have been helping the library recognize Banned Books Week for many years, with their podcasts on the subject first added to the library’s website in 2009.
Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating essential American freedoms: to read, to seek knowledge and to express ideas. Even if the ideas are unorthodox or unpopular, we are supposed to have access to them without limitations. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to censorship and its results. It is sponsored by the American Library Association and the National Coalition Against Censorship, among others.
The books displayed in the library during Banned Books Week have all been targeted with removal or restrictions in libraries and schools. While books have been and continue to be banned, part of the Banned Books Week celebration is the fact that, in a majority of cases, these books have remained available. Come on in and check them out!
Hear what everyone has to say:
Aydin Bekiroglu
Farahnaz Mahvi
Ha Quan
Top Ten Most Challenged Books of 2013
- Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group, violence - The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, violence - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group - Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L. James
Reasons: Nudity, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group - The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group - A Bad Boy Can Be Good for A Girl, by Tanya Lee Stone
Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit - Looking for Alaska, by John Green
Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group - The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group - Bless Me Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
Reasons: Occult/Satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit - Bone (series), by Jeff Smith
Reasons: Political viewpoint, racism, violence