2011 Banned Books SPEAK-OUT!
The Teen Advisory Group has submitted a 2011 Banned Books Grant Application to the Freedom to Read Foundation, which sponsors the Judith Krug Memorial Fund that awards four (4) grants to organizations in support of "Read-Outs" or other activities that celebrate Banned Books Week (September 24 - October 1, 20011). The TAG will sponsor the “2011 Banned Books Speak-Out!” on Saturday, October 1st. In June, the TAG will invite participants including library patrons, Friends, various book discussion group members, as well as students from Berwick’s Noble High School to select and read books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century list of challenged classics (46 titles). The TAG will create a “2011 Banned Books Blog”, and participants from the community will submit blog entries in advance of the BBW event with examples of why their selected titles were restricted or banned, demonstrating the harm of censorship and the importance of speaking out in support of intellectual freedom.
During the summer, the Teen Advisory Group will organize the “2011 Banned Books Speak-Out!” scheduled for Saturday, October 1st, from 10:30am to 1pm. They will design, print and exhibit during September 11x17 posters at the library of selected titles from this challenged classics list (including The Catcher in the Rye,The Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, Brave New World, The Lord of the Rings, and others). The TAG also plans to create a “Banned Books” graffiti display in the library’s parking lot for the event. The “Banned Books Speak-Out!” will be organized as a roundtable discussion at the library; students, book discussion members, Friends, patrons, and TAG members will join together, and each will take 3 to 5 minutes to present their selected titles, reading passages to highlight the attempted censorship of these classics and the critical importance to speak out in defense of intellectual freedom. The “2011 Banned Books Blog“ will be exhibited so visitors can review the entries of participants in the “Speak-Out!” event. Local student musicians will perform music that has been challenged or censored over time (including selections from The Beatles, Dylan, Tom Petty, Santana, Dixie Chicks, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc.) prior to the event and during brief intermissions. We hope by involving students in this event, it will encourage their families to attend, as well as library patrons and other visitors from the community. We plan to raffle 10 to 12 books to give to visitors, from the challenged classics list and titles from more recently banned booklists. The TAG will also give out BBW badges and other items for children. The event will be followed with light refreshments for the community.
If awarded a grant, the Teen Advisory Group will use funds to help sponsor the event including publicity materials, the printing of banned book posters for display at the library, books to donate to attendees, and refreshments for the BBW event. The TAG would also like to apply some of the grant funds to building the young adult (fiction and nonfiction), junior fiction, and children’s book collections.