Banned Books Week Reading

Banned Books Week runs from September 24, 2011, to October 1, 2011. Celebrate the freedom to read by attending the Banned Books Read Out, at which student volunteers, librarians, and staff will be reading passages from their favorite banned or challenged books from 2010, many of which are from popular young-adult authors. Also on display in the library concourse is a new exhibit by Professor Robert Sedlack’s Graphic Design 3 class. Cookies, coffee, and tea will be served. Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores, and libraries. More than 11,000 books have been challenged since 1982. According to the American Library Association, there were 348 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2010, and many more go unreported. Below are the 10 most-challenged titles of 2010. For a description of the reasons for the challenges, visit the "Hesburgh Libraries Banned Book Week 2011 webpage":http://www.library.nd.edu/reference/BannedBooksWeek.shtml. * _And Tango Makes Three_, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson * _The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian_, by Sherman Alexie * _Brave New World_, by Aldous Huxley * _Crank_, by Ellen Hopkins * _The Hunger Games_ (series), by Suzanne Collins * _Lush_, by Natasha Friend * _What My Mother Doesn't Know_, by Sonya Sones * _Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America_, by Barbara Ehrenreich * _Revolutionary Voices_, edited by Amy Sonnie * _Twilight_ (series), by Stephanie Meyer

The Banned Books Read Out at Notre Dame is sponsored by the Hesburgh Libraries, the Literacy Awareness Club of Notre Dame, and Robert Sedlack's Graphic Design 3 class "For more information, visit the "Hesburgh Libraries banned books week page":http://www.library.nd.edu/reference/BannedBooksWeek.shtml or "the official Banned Books Week 2011 website":http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/.