Every year this is one of my favorite noteable occasions to decorate for. To see last year's displays, go
HERE.
This time I had this sudden idea to wrap our cylindrical glass display case in black butcher paper and cut out little peep-holes so the students could actually lift flaps to reveal the controversial books.
It took a little work positioning the shelves inside the case so they lined up just right with the 5 peep-holes, but I was very happy with the result. It's INTERACTIVE, dude! I reinforced the peep flaps with packaging tape so they wouldn't get instantly shredded.
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| Just what is going on here?! |
What's really cool is that as soon as I got the display together, students instantly started lifting flaps and talking about the books, and wondering why people would object to them and try to make them unavailable to anyone else.
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| "Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself." -Potter Stewart |
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| Why, look who we have here! It's The Giver, and Anne Frank! |
On the back of the display case is a locking door, but although I covered it in black paper, I purposely left it UNlocked, and put this on it:
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| "A library is a key to intellectual freedom..." |
Plenty of kids started immediately opening it and grabbing the challenged and banned books to check out.
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| Wow, look at all the enticing contraband! |
On the big bulletin board I did a variation of the same thing I did last year with my "unlock your mind" theme, and my "Banned Books Week Made Simple" cartoon.
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| "Unlock your mind... Banned Books Week!" |
And last but not least, I printed out the ALA's packet of info on the most frequently challenged or banned books from 2010-2011, put it in a 3-ring binder, and displayed it on the corner shelves at the circ counter, surrounded by some of the books that are always under fire. Every time a kid asks about the (so-called) REASONS for the challenges and bannings, I direct them to the folder and they eagerly flip through it, and read some of it out loud to their friends in outrage and indignation. I love it!
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| "Read an 'endangered' book today!" |
The packet is totally free to download/print from ALA's website:
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| To get this awesome and useful pdf from ALA, go HERE |
