October 2021 – Page 2 – Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary School Library

International School Library Month

The theme of ISLM in 2021 is “Fairy Tales and Folk Tales Around the World.”

Check out some of these titles which collect legends, myths, tales, sagas and stories from around the globe:

Note: Some tales have been handed down from ancient times, many since before they were written down, while other are modern “mash-ups” or new spins on old stories. Some of the stories are integral to deeply held spiritual or religious beliefs. Some are, clearly, made up stories told for entertainment value of adventure or comedy. Others are somewhere in between. As with all great stories, we hope you can learn while you enjoy!

Thanksgiving

What are you thankful for?

This weekend, if you are so fortunate, enjoy some turkey. Enjoy spending time with family and friends. Enjoy a day off of work on Monday. Enjoy some relaxation and recreation. Put your feet up. Read a book. Sit by the fire. Go for a walk in nature.

Whatever you do for fun or rest this weekend, take some time to consider what you are thankful for in your life.

The relationship between joy and gratitude was one of the important things I found in my research. I wasn’t expecting it. In my 12 years of research on 11,000 pieces of data, I did not interview one person who had described themselves as joyful, who also did not actively practice gratitude.
Dr. Brene Brown

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. Like all holidays, Thanksgiving is even better when we stop to consider the meaning of the holiday.

Everything Library

October is International School Library Month and Canadian Library Month. Join us as we celebrate libraries, librarians, books, the learning commons, online reference, reading, literacy, research, access to information, and everything to do with the library.

Library Month

Come down to the School Library to check out our display of materials related to libraries, librarians, librarianship and all related issues.

Drop Everything and Read on October 25

Monday, October 25 is BC School Library Day and is also the date for the BCTF/BCTLA’s annual DEAR Challenge: Drop Everything and Read. Mark it on the calendar and spread the word.

World Teacher’s Day

Find out more about World Teacher’s Day: UNESCO Fact Sheet

Parachutes

Surrey Teens Read has once again come up with an incredible list of titles for students to enjoy. This week we look at Parachutes by Kelly Yang.

Kelly Yang was born in Hong Kong and grew up in the U.S.. Ms. Yang has led an incredibly interesting and accomplished life: Find out more here. She is also the author of Front Desk, both an award winning novel, and a book that has faced censorship.

Come down to the School Library to see Parachutes and the other nine nominated titles for this school year’s version of Surrey Teens Read.

Find out more at surreyteensread.weebly.com

If you don’t read, they don’t need to ban books.

People need to read books for book banning to even be a thing. This idea has been expressed in many different ways.

So Read. Keep reading. Read some more. Read what you want to read. Read what you decide to read.

Read for information. Read to learn. Read for fun. Read to escape. Read for entertainment. Read to experience the world from the point of view of different people. Read to cry. Read to be scared. Read to laugh.

Read to understand. Read to learn new things. Read to learn more about things you already know.

Read to learn the point of view of people that you might disagree with, even when you are certain that you will disagree with them. Read to consider new information, new evidence, new perspectives. Read critically, even skeptically, but read with an openness to change your mind when faced with rational and logical reasons to do so.

Read for whatever reason you decide. Stand up for your freedom to decide for yourself what you want to read.

That doesn’t mean you should read anything and everything. People that care about you might know why reading some things, at certain times, might not be so good for you. You might decide not read some books because of your age, maturity, or history. Some books might not be right for you because of your current mental or emotional health. Perhaps some material has nothing to offer you of any value. But that is for you to decide in cooperation with the people that you trust. That is not for other people, other groups, organizations or governments to decide for you.

People try to ban books because they don’t want you to read those books. If you don’t read books to begin with, you are doing their work for them.

Book Banning: Not Just History but Current Events

It can be tempting to think of the banning of books as something that happened in the past, only by extremely conservative types, or in authoritarian regimes. Sadly, book banning is alive and well here and now. Sure, it is not shocking that anti-democratic governments in places like China, Russia, Iran, Hungary or Venezuela strictly control the flow of information and literature. Yet in our society, where we make claims on being champions of democracy and freedom, book banning is on the rise.

Kara Yorio writes in School Library Journal: “It has been a busy Banned Books Week, as the stepped-up challenges to books and their authors continue, with books by kid lit creators Jerry Craft and Kelly Yang added to the list of titles some parents claim are objectionable.” Read the rest of this article.

Meanwhile “Ruby Bridges Goes to School” has been targeted by book banners as well. Author Ruby Bridges recounts the true story of her experiences as a 6 year old girl who became the first black student to attend a formerly whites only public school. An organized group of parents wanted their local school board to ban this book, “for supposedly “explicit and implicit anti-American, anti-white” bias (source).” Read more in this Miami Herald article.

Here are four of the most challenged books from the last year, all available in our school library:

George by Alex Gino. Challenged, banned, and restricted for LGBTQIA+ content, conflicting with a religious viewpoint, and not reflecting “the values of our community.”

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds. Banned and challenged because of the author’s public statements and because of claims that the book contains “selective storytelling incidents” and does not encompass racism against all people.

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. Banned and challenged for profanity, drug use, and alcoholism and because it was thought to promote antipolice views, contain divisive topics, and be “too much of a sensitive matter right now.”

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Banned, challenged, and restricted because it was thought to contain a political viewpoint, it was claimed to be biased against male students, and it included rape and profanity.