Archives for banned books

How to Fight Censorship & Book Bans

How to Fight Censorship & Book Bans

On Monday, April 24, 2023 the first national Right to Read Day was held. Organized by the American Library Association (ALA), and kicking off National Library Week, Right to Read Day was established as a call to action in response to the past few years of attacks on access to, and even the existence of, certain books – overwhelmingly those with BIPOC and LGBTQ+ characters, themes, and information (check out the top 13 challenged books of 2022 to see what I mean). While ALA’s Unite Against Book Bans, and other organizations, highlighted going to the library and checking out banned
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April 11, 2024 9:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, and Library News.
Tags: #WPFreedomtoRead, activism, banned books, book banning, book bans, censorship, community activism, fight for the first, first amendment, and freedom to read.

October Tweens Talk Banned Books

October Tweens Talk Banned Books

Celebrating Banned Books Week – October 1st-7th, 2023! Tweens Talk Banned Books American Born Chinese & Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy Grades 4-6 Thursday, October 5th at 4:30-5:30 pm Location: Galaxy Hall Registration required. Register here Join us in the Trove for a special-edition, double-title book club designed for tweens in grades 4-6 – Tweens Talk Banned Books – to celebrate Banned Books Week 2023 and discuss challenged books!  Our book discussion will seek to engage in open and honest conversations about diverse books and sometimes difficult material as an alternative to book banning. There will be a BINGO game
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September 10, 2023 1:04 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Book Discussion, Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: banned books, Banned Books Week, book clubs for kids, book groups, Bre Indigo, Gene Yang, graphic novels, Rey Terciero, and Tweens Talk Banned Books.

Author Alex Gino Discusses “Melissa”

Author Alex Gino Discusses “Melissa”

Author Visit: Alex Gino Discusses Melissa Thursday, June 29th at 7:00 p.m. For Grades 4-12, Families, Adults Registration required. Register here for in-person in Galaxy Hall or here for Virtual on Zoom To both celebrate LGBTQIA+ Pride Month in June and to call attention to the ever-increasing crisis of censorship and book banning in the country, we are excited to announce that award-winning author Alex Gino will be speaking about their book, Melissa. This author visit program will also be June’s Tweens Talk Banned Books meeting.  Tweens Talk Banned Books is a book club program for grades 4-6 to discuss
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June 2, 2023 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: #WPFreedomtoRead, Alex Gino, author events, banned books, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+ events in White Plains, Melissa, Pride Events in White Plains, and Pride Month.

Author Visit: Ryan Estrada, Banned Book Biographer

Author Visit: Ryan Estrada, Banned Book Biographer

Ryan Estrada, Banned Book Biographer Author Visit & Book Discussion Tuesday May 9 at 6:00 p.m. VIRTUAL – a free, registered Zoom account is required to join the program. Sign into the Zoom for the Event here.   What can you do to help fight censorship and book bannings? Find out here. Reading banned books can help change your life, or even change the world. Author Ryan Estrada learned this in writing a number of graphic novels on the topic. In Occulted, he and Amy Rose wrote about how she grew up in a cult just down the road from
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May 4, 2023 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: #WPFreedomtoRead, banned books, book clubs for teens, censorship, teen book club, The Edge, and YA Fiction.

April Tweens Talk Banned Books

April Tweens Talk Banned Books

April Tweens Talk Banned Books Grades 4-6 April 27th at 4:30-6:00 p.m. Location: Galaxy Hall Registration required. Register here As cases of censorship have grown more widespread throughout the U.S., the Library has kicked off a celebration of banned books – #WPFreedomToRead – that started during Banned Books Week (September 18-24 2022.) Join us at the Trove for a bi-monthly book club designed for tweens in grades 4-6, Tweens Talk Banned Books, to discuss challenged books!  Our book discussion series seeks to engage in open and honest conversations about diverse books and sometimes difficult material as an alternative to book
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April 21, 2023 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: #WPFreedomtoRead, banned books, Book discussion for kids, book discussion for middle grade students, book discussion for teens, books for children, and juvenile fiction.

February Tweens Talk Banned Books

February Tweens Talk Banned Books

February Tweens Talk Banned Books Grades 4-6 February 23 at 4:30-6:00 p.m. Virtual Registration required. Register here. Note: All of our youth-focused virtual programs require a registered Zoom account to attend. Sign up for a free Zoom account here: http://zoom.us/signup. As cases of censorship have grown more widespread throughout the U.S., the Library has kicked off a year-long celebration of banned books – #WPFreedomToRead – that started during Banned Books Week (September 18-24 2022.) The Library’s celebration of banned books will feature a variety of programs for adults, teens, and children throughout the year. Join us at the Trove for
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January 23, 2023 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: #WPFreedomtoRead, banned books, Book discussion for kids, book discussion for middle grade students, book discussion for teens, books for children, and juvenile fiction.

Banned Books Photobooth

Banned Books Photobooth

Get caught reading a Banned Book in the Library's Lobby! Take a “mugshot” holding your favorite banned or challenged book with our “crime” sign in front of our backdrop. Post your selfie to social media using the hashtag #WPFreedomtoRead OR upload your photos to our website here. We'll add your “mugshots” to this page and our gallery as they come in. We'll also have a pop-up photobooth at upcoming #WPFreedomtoRead events where staff can take your photo. “Mugshot” Gallery:
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December 31, 2022 11:26 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Events, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: #WPFreedomtoRead, banned books, Banned Books Photobooth, Banned Books Week, and library staff.

January Tweens Talk Banned Books

January Tweens Talk Banned Books

January Tweens Talk Banned Books Grades 4-6 January 19th at 4:30-6:00 p.m. Virtual Registration required. Register here. Note: All of our youth-focused virtual programs require a registered Zoom account to attend. Sign up for a free Zoom account here: http://zoom.us/signup. As cases of censorship have grown more widespread throughout the U.S., the Library has kicked off a year-long celebration of banned books – #WPFreedomToRead – that started during Banned Books Week (September 18-24 2022.) The Library’s celebration of banned books will feature a variety of programs for adults, teens, and children throughout the year. Join us at the Trove for
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December 16, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: #WPFreedomtoRead, banned books, Book discussion for kids, book discussion for middle grade students, book discussion for teens, books for children, and juvenile fiction.

December Tweens Talk Banned Books

December Tweens Talk Banned Books

Tweens Talk Banned Books Grades 4-6 December 15th at 4:30-6:00 p.m. Virtual Registration required. Register here. Note: All of our youth-focused virtual programs require a registered Zoom account to attend. Sign up for a free Zoom account here: http://zoom.us/signup. As cases of censorship have grown more widespread throughout the U.S., the Library has kicked off a year-long celebration of banned books – #WPFreedomToRead – that started during Banned Books Week (September 18-24 2022.) The Library’s celebration of banned books will feature a variety of programs for adults, teens, and children throughout the year. Join us at the Trove for a
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November 16, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: #WPFreedomtoRead, banned books, Book discussion for kids, book discussion for middle grade students, book discussion for teens, books for children, and juvenile fiction.

#WPFreedomToRead Challenge

#WPFreedomToRead Challenge

“I'll be absolutely candid and honest, it's embarrassing that we are banning books in this country, in this culture, in this day and age.” – LeVar Burton As part of our year-long celebration of banned and challenged books, adults and teens are invited to join our #WPFreedomToRead Challenge. It's fun! It's easy! There are prizes! Yes, YOU could win a Kindle Paperwhite or other bookish prize! All you need to do is read banned or challenged books and log what you've read in READsquared. Each banned or challenged book you read and log earns you an entry in our prize
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November 11, 2022 1:51 pm | by | 2 Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Events, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: #WPFreedomtoRead, banned books, reading challenge, and ReadSquared.

November Tweens Talk Banned Books

November Tweens Talk Banned Books

Tweens Talk Banned Books Grades 4-6 Thursday, November 17th, 2022 at 4:30-6:00 p.m. Virtual Registration required. Register here. Note: All of our youth-focused virtual programs require a registered Zoom account to attend. Sign up for a free Zoom account here: https://zoom.us/signup. As cases of censorship have grown more widespread throughout the U.S., White Plains Public Library has kicked off a year-long celebration of banned books – #WPFreedomToRead– that started during Banned Books Week (September 18-24 2022.) The Library’s celebration of banned books will feature a variety of programs for adults, teens, and children throughout the year. Join us at the
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November 2, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: #WPFreedomtoRead, banned books, Book discussion for kids, book discussion for middle grade students, book discussion for teens, books for children, and juvenile fiction.

October Tweens Talk Banned Books

October Tweens Talk Banned Books

Tweens Talk Banned Books Grades 4-6 Thursday, October 27th at 4:30 p.m. Virtual Registration required. Register here. Note: All of our youth-focused virtual programs require a registered Zoom account to attend. Sign up for a free Zoom account here: https://zoom.us/signup. Book banning is sadly nothing new, and cases of censorship are growing more and more widespread throughout the US. Librarians oppose censorship and believe that open, honest conversation about challenged material is an alternative to book banning. Join Erica for Tweens Talk Banned Books, a year-long book club designed for middle school students to celebrate and discuss banned and challenged
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October 16, 2022 8:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: #WPFreedomtoRead, banned books, Book discussion for kids, book discussion for middle grade students, book discussion for teens, books for children, and juvenile fiction.

Banned Books Quiz: Halloween Edition

Banned Books Quiz: Halloween Edition

Can you find the titles of the 22 banned or challenged books we've hidden in the text passage below? It was well past twilight on Halloween and the sky was black enough that you could barely see the bats circling the shrouded moon.  One flew over the cuckoo's nest in the rotted roof of the haunted house next door.  Carrie dipped her fangs in cold blood.  “What sort of monster are you supposed to be?” she asked Ed, noting the long bandages and sunglasses he was sporting.  “I'm the invisible man, 1933 version, of course,” he replied. “Great costume.  My fake blood
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October 12, 2022 12:20 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: #WPFreedomtoRead, banned books, and Banned Books Quiz.

Banned Books Quiz

Banned Books Quiz

Defend the first amendment and celebrate the freedom to read freely, or as Jay-Z famously said, “We change people through conversation, not through censorship.” In honor of Banned Books Week – September 18 – 24 — please join us at 7:00pm on Wednesday, September 21st via Zoom as author Christopher Finan talks about his book How Free Speech Saved Democracy: The Untold History of How the First Amendment Became an Essential Tool for Securing Liberty and Social Justice. Finan will be interviewed by Oren Teicher, former CEO of the American Bookseller's Association. This event and our banned books title quiz,
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September 18, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: #WPFreedomtoRead, banned books, Banned Books Quiz, and Banned Books Week.

Author Visit with Chris Finan

Author Visit with Chris Finan

Register HERE for a virtual author visit with Chris Finan on September 21st from 7:00- 8:00 p.m. He’ll be talking about his new book, How Free Speech Saved Democracy: The Untold History of How the First Amendment Became an Essential Tool for Securing Liberty and Social Justice. Finan will be interviewed by White Plains resident Oren Teicher, former CEO of the American Booksellers Association. This is the first of many upcoming events in our yearlong celebration of #WPFreedomtoRead. Here’s what author Judy Blume said about the book: “I can't believe we're in the midst of another struggle over what students
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September 10, 2022 12:41 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: #WPFreedomtoRead, banned books, censorship, Chris Finan, free speech, meet the author, virtual author events, and virtual events.

Dive into Diversity: #fREADom to Read

Dive into Diversity: #fREADom to Read

Recently, well-respected, award-winning children’s and teen titles have faced severe, targeted censorship attacks in such states as Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia, Georgia and Illinois. Award winning titles such as the Newbery-winning title New Kid by Jerry Craft have faced heavy racist and anti-LGBTQIA+ attacks, and we in the Trove wanted to celebrate and support the #fREADom to read them, and all books that affirm the uniqueness and special characteristics of every child and teen. The excellent children’s books highlighted in this blog come from Texas State Representative Matt Krause’s list of over 800 titles (16 pages!) he is seeking “to
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December 9, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: #Freadom to read, banned books, books for children, censorship, children's literature, and Dive into Diversity.