3 Cool Things I Learned from our School's #BannedBooksWeek Celebration

"No, we are not celebrating that books are banned, we're celebrating that we read banned books." I found myself saying this more than a few times throughout Banned Books Week. "We're celebrating our freedom to read!"

We read banned books!#bannedbooksweek #freedomtoread Events: http://bit.ly/shcbb #tlchat #librariesofinstagram @seaburyspartans

A photo posted by Seabury Hall's Castle Library (@seaburylibrary) on Sep 28, 2015 at 1:14pm PDT

It was a great week of raising awareness!
Here are three cool things I learned:
1. Our students are astute readers and free thinkers.

Listening to the two student discussions English department chair Mr. Alan Hodara facilitated, "The Hunger Games" and "Challenged Books at Seabury Hall", filled me with awe. Our students are extremely aware. And our English teachers are doing a fantastic job of sharpening students' analytic skills.

2. If you start a school-wide conversation about banned / challenged books, students will start looking for free reading, banned or not.

Our students are busy! Discussing banned books seemed to help kids remember how much they love to read for pleasure. It was awesome to watch more kids than usual browsing the shelves, and borrowing. Librarian's delight. :)

3. Our Head of School GETS it!

At the end of the week, our Head of School, Ms. Sarah Bakheit, dropped by the library to check out our banned book display. 

Her comment? "When I was in school, the fact that a book was banned was my SIGNAL to read it. "

How cool is that?

All in all, Banned Books Week at our school was a success! #makesmehappy

Ms. Lindsay (◕‿◕✿) 
@mauilibrarian2 
G+

[Cross-posted at mauilibrarian2 in Olinda.]