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Twitter feed showing support for Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak

Freedom to Read week is in February but it well worth checking out their poster gallery - 25 great posters to use whenever!

[the YA books in my libraryare] all appropriately reviewed, of course, and many of them are award winners, some several times over-but when it comes to content, they don't pull any punches. So it shouldn't really come as a surprise that I recently got my first book complaint. As librarians, we tend to talk a lot about intellectual freedom and defending our teens' right to read whatever they want. But when push comes to shove, how do we really respond to book challenges in the heat of the moment?

I feel lucky that I have not had to defend a book. I hope I would listen to the parent's concerns, arrange a time to respond to that concern, check our division policy again, do some reviews, and then respond. I try to read all the books of an older nature for a K-8 library, so I know the content. In some cases I've sent books on the Jen at NBCHS, because they are to mature for our students, but are still great books. I know I should spend more time researching the books before I buy them, but sometimes I am buying them based on a student's recommendation.

This selective list provides information on more than 100 books and some magazines that have been challenged in the past decades. Each challenge sought to limit public access to the books and magazines in schools, libraries, or bookstores. Some challenges were upheld; others were rejected.

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FREEDOM TO READ WEEK, February 21-27, 2010

Greater Victoria Regional Library provocative and engaging Freedom to Read Week display.

2009 Top ten challenged books

"Every year, libraries are asked to remove books from their shelves, because they are found to be inappropriate. These "challenges" can occur for any reason, and do not necessarily result in a book's removal from libraries. But the list of the 10 most challenged books in 2009 does show which books some parents find objectionable, and why they feel their kids shouldn't be reading them"