Category: Literacy

Freedom to Read Week

February 23 to March 1, 2025, is Freedom to Read Week in Canada

From freedomtoread.ca: “Freedom to Read Week provides an opportunity for Canadians to focus on issues of intellectual freedom as they affect your community, your province or territory, our country, and countries around the world. Whether you are a librarian, bookseller, educator, student, or member of the community, there are lots of ways you can help mark this annual event.”

Visit your school library in person, or online here at tweedsmuirlibrary.ca, all week long to find out more about Freedom to Read in Canada, how you can celebrate, and how you can join in the ongoing struggle to protect your rights and freedoms.

Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes was born on this day in 1901. Hughes would go on to become a renowned poet, playwright, novelist and social activist. Langston Hughes was at the center of the the intellectual and cultural phenomenon that was the “Harlem Renaissance” of the twenties and thirties in New York.

Find out more:

October is Canadian Library Month

Libraries are vital to our individual and collective prosperity and well-being. Libraries are a joy. Libraries build community. Libraries promote literacy. Libraries are safe spaces. Libraries bridge the gap between haves and have nots. Libraries protect intellectual freedom. Libraries put books into the hands of kids. Libraries support healthy communities. Libraries are essential to the health of democracy. Libraries promote positive social values. Libraries provide online resources. Libraries build readers. Libraries are hubs of a community. Libraries promote lifelong learning. Libraries support democratic citizenship. This list of why libraries are important goes on and on.

Celebrate Canadian Library Month, along with International School Library Month, this October. All libraries, including school libraries, public libraries, even “free little libraries”, are vital to society. Find out more. Visit us in person, or online at tweedsmuirlibrary.ca

Banned Books Week

September 22 to 29 is the ALA’s “Banned Books Week.” While we in Canada observe the similar “Freedom to Read Week” in the new year, we can also join with our American neighbours in recognizing the very real threats to freedom and democracy that are posed by the massively sharp rise of book banning. The US has seen an especially concerted attack on books for teens about marginalized communities. We are not immune from such fascist tactics in Canada, as book challenges have risen in step with the rise of far right propaganda, and in most cases are centered on schools, classrooms and school libraries.

Find out more about Banned Books Week.

A Favourite Book

What is one of your favourite books? That is the question we asked teachers and other staff at Lord Tweedsmuir.

The response was excellent. There are some pretty cool books that were brought up. Ms. Perez loves Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. If you haven’t read it, maybe you should check it out. (We have it here in the school library for you to borrow.)

We’ve asked the adults in the building. How about the students? What are some of your favourite books?

Look for more examples of favourite books in the coming weeks.

International Literacy Day 2024

source: UNESCO

September 8 is International Literacy Day. Literacy brings us joy and is a vital force for human rights, health, dignity and prosperity. Join with us in your School Library as we join with billions of people all over the planet in celebrating literacy and in standing together for the cause of improving literacy for all people.

From UNESCO:

Since 1967, the annual celebrations of International Literacy Day (ILD) have taken place on 8 September around the world to remind policy-makers, practitioners, and the public of the critical importance of literacy for creating more literate, just, peaceful, and sustainable society. 

Literacy is a fundamental human right for all. It opens the door to the enjoyment of other human rights, greater freedoms, and global citizenship. Literacy is a foundation for people to acquire broader knowledge, skills, values, attitudes, and behaviours to foster a culture of lasting peace based on respect for equality and non-discrimination, the rule of law, solidarity, justice, diversity, and tolerance and to build harmonious relations with oneself, other people and the planet. In 2022, however, at least one out of seven adults aged 15 and above (754 million) lacked basic literacy skills. Additionally, millions of children are struggling to acquire minimum levels of proficiency in reading, writing and numeracy, while some 250 million children of 6-18 years old are out of school. 

Read more from UNESCO