Reading is a foundational skill, critical to future learning and to exercising our democratic freedoms. At the same time, Parents, activists, school board officials and lawmakers around the country are challenging books at a pace not seen in decades. The American Library Association said in a preliminary report that it received an “unprecedented” 330 reports of book challenges, each of which can include multiple books, last fall. Pulling titles that deal with difficult subjects can make it harder for students to discuss issues like racism and other important topics. Banned books often deal with subjects that are realistic, timely, and topical. Young people deserve to see their experiences, identities, and communities reflected in the books they read. Life complexities shouldn't be kept from children and teens; books can be used as tools to help them talk with adults about their developing values and opinions. The titles on this list are selected from lists of challenged and banned books from the American Library Association, Commons Sense Media, Scholastic, and other organizations. Our library will allow access to the range of human experiences that literature provides for all of our students.
All students in the 7th grade will benefit from having access to the banned books library. Banned books often deal with subjects that are realistic, timely, and topical. Young people may find a character going through exactly what they are, which makes it a powerful reading experience and helps the reader sort out thorny issues like grief, divorce, sexual assault, bullying, prejudice, and sexual identity. Students crave relatable books. This library will provide access to these relatable books.
Success will be achieved when students are engaging with the Banned Books library. In addition to individual access to these important books, there are numerous curriculum connections to the Seventh Grade World History curriculum, including such themes as race, religion, politics, art, economics and cultural interactions. Additionally, this library supports interdisciplinary collaboration between Language Arts and Social Studies.
The grant will be implemented by setting up a library in the Seventh Grade Social Studies classroom. The shelves will highlight different books with a regular rotation schedule - once every three weeks.
Yes. Other Social Studies teachers can use these texts, and all Seventh Grade teachers will be welcome and encouraged to point students in the direction of the library. This is in addition to the aforementioned collaboration between Language Arts and Social Studies
Yes.
These books were selected because they are great works of literature; not simply because they have been banned or challenged. This is a middle school appropriate list, void of graphic sexuality. Plenty of banned books do not appear on this list. Some because they are not age appropriate -- others because they were banned long ago, or are already used as part of the curriculum: The novel The Outsiders, for example. What they all have in common is that they reflect the human condition in powerful ways. Our students will benefit greatly from access to them.