What do The Hunger Games, The Color Purple, Captain Underpants, 1984, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban have in common? They are among the thousands of titles that have been challenged or banned at libraries across the nation.

Queens University of Charlotte celebrated Banned Books Week 2014 – September 22-27 – with a week-long Read Out on the front porch of Everett Library.Over 40 members of the university’s student body, faculty and staff read books, plays, and stories aloud to celebrate our freedom to read.

Among the participants were students in public speaking and oral interpretation courses, members of the national honor societies in communication and english, university faculty, and staff members including librarians, the chief information officer, and the provost.

Each participant chose a banned book to read, and the readings could be heard from the library across the main campus quad.

Banned Books Week is an official event of the American Library Association. Events at Queens were sponsored by Everett Library, Knight School of Communication and its honor society, Lambda Pi Eta, and the English Department and its honor society, Sigma Tau Delta. I’d like to thank Sherrill Shiraz, Joli McClelland, and Bob Page for helping me organize the Read Out at Queens. To find out more about Banned Books week and how your library or university can participate, visit the ALA’s website.

——————————————————————

ALA also sponsors a Virtual Read Out online. Here’s my contribution for 2014: