Each year I post about Banned Books Week.  I do so because information literacy addresses the social issues around information (Association of College & Research Libraries, 2015).  Banned Books Week 2015(September 27-October 3) will focus on young adult books.

Paint Me Like I Am: Teen Poems (WritersCorps, 2003) was challenged twice in one period.  A 2009 parental challenge led a Vineyard, NJ school principal to remove the pages with the poem “Diary of an abusive stepfather.”  In 2010 the North Fond du Lac, WI school district required the middle/high school library’s copy to be labeled for high school use (Doyle, 2010, p. 8).

Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy concerns both teen poets and censorship.  When a sleazy competition show comes to their school, four friends use poetry to launch a protest (Hattemer, 2014).

I celebrated Banned Books Week with a challenged title and a tie-in.  How will you celebrate it?

References

Association of College & Research Libraries (2015). Framework for information literacy for higher education.  Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework

Doyle, R.P. (2010).  Think for yourself and let others do the same: Books challenged or banned in 2009-2010.  Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/content/banned/bannedbooksweek/ideasandresources/free_downloads/2010banned.pdf

Hattemer, K. (2014). The vigilante poets of Selwyn Academy. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.

WritersCorps. (2003). Paint me like I am: Teen poems. New York, NY: HarperTempest.