Banned Books Week: Question, Analyse and Debate

From 5 to 9 October, the LRC celebrated Banned Books Week with students in Years 9–12, as part of the American Library Association (ALA) initiative to promote the freedom to read and encourage reflection on book censorship.

Throughout the week, our students took part in a range of activities that encouraged them to question, analyse, express their opinions, and listen to different perspectives on book censorship.

The activities included:

Sold: analysing a request to remove a book and expressing different arguments. 

True or False: discovering the real reasons why different books have been challenged or censored.

The Censorship Line: taking a position on different statements and defending their ideas through dialogue. 

Find the Impostor: exploring the historical events that inspired The Handmaid’s Tale and identifying which ones took place after the novel was published.

These activities helped students understand that the same book can generate very different opinions. Some students even recognised favourite books during the activities, from their Primary school days. 

Rather than looking for right or wrong answers, the experience aimed to promote critical thinking, respect for different perspectives, and reflection on the freedom to read.

Reading also means learning to think, question and listen to other voices.

More photos on Flickr

LRC/Design Bulletin Friday Oct 17th, 2025

 These past 2 weeks there has been a great deal going on in the LRC.

Here are the highlights in video format:

1. Cooking Club students got together on Tuesday afternoon to bake Cinnamon  rolls.

Cinnamon rolls by Hilda Gómez

2. 9th Grade Digital Design Students tested their automated disaster response programs with the Tello Drones.

Tello Drone- Mission Challenge by Hilda Gómez 

3.  The LRC ran a variety of workshops focused on censorship and literature as part of our Banned Books Week Initiatives. 

banned by Hilda Gómez

Banned Books Week 2023

 

Banned Books Week

Desde 1982, la Semana del Libro Prohibido, es organizada por la Asociación Estadounidense de Bibliotecas y Amnistía Internacional, como una campaña de concientización que celebra la libertad de leer y llama la atención sobre los peligros de la censura y la prohibición de ciertas obras. 

El propósito de esta semana es reconocer y celebrar la libertad de acceder a cualquier libro, poder leerlo y promover con nuestros estudiantes la importancia de defender el acceso a la información y la diversidad de ideas en la literatura.

Esta celebración gira en torno a libros que han sido prohibidos o censurados en diferentes momentos de la historia por diferentes razones. Dialogamos con los estudiantes acerca del concepto mismo de censura, su función, aplicación y motivaciones, así como sus efectos sobre la sociedad, de manera que seamos conscientes de la importancia del acceso adecuado al conocimiento y del derecho así como de las responsabilidades al acceder a una amplia variedad de ideas o perspectivas a través de la literatura.

Este año dicha actividad tuvo lugar durante la semana del 2 al 7 de octubre, en la que, además de las charlas por grados, preparamos displays, realizamos lecturas en voz alta, explicamos a nuestros estudiantes la importancia de los niveles de lectura y las etiquetas de los libros que tienen un distintivo de color que les permite saber el grado o la edad para que puedan leer ese libro de acuerdo a contenido y vocabulario.

Desarrollamos las siguientes actividades:

1. Exhibición de libros censurados a lo largo de la historia

2. Discusión sobre temas relacionados a la censura y la importancia de preservar el derecho a la libertad de expresión

3. Lectura en voz alta, para destacar la importancia de la libertad de expresión y la diversidad de voces en la literatura

   

Nos encantó conocer la opinión de nuestros estudiantes acerca de los libros que han sido prohibidos o censurados en otros países y la participación de algunos docentes que explicaban la forma en cómo se manejan algunas lecturas guiadas y la forma de abordar diferentes temáticas.

Hemos visto la madurez en nuestros alumnos para celebrar la libertad de leer y de saber que nuestra biblioteca tiene una gran diversidad de libros pero que para cada lector hay un libro apropiado para su edad y su momento. Indicándoles como estan dividas cada una de nuestras colecciones para que puedan dirigirse al libro adecuado.

Les compartimos algunas fotos y vídeos de como celebramos en el LRC la semana de los libros censurados y la libertad de leer.

Banned Books Week 2023 by the LRC

Banned Books Week 2022

We had a fascinating session about Banned Books week today with grades 6 during tutor time and grade 7 during their weekly Life Skills session. The students were really interested in learning more about Banned Books Week (The banned book tag got their attention.) and how censorship does not solve our problems with certain topics. One main message during the activity was that the right to read books, even the most controversial ones are important, as is taking into consideration context, and age appropriateness,  cultural and religious sensitivity when doing so.

 Every person has the right to read what they want, and will fully understand and appreciate certain texts, once they acquire sufficient knowledge, understanding and maturity to do so. That is why having the right to discuss Banned Books and even celebrate them is so important.

We encourage students to keep talking about it with parents, teachers and librarians, so we can fully develop all the needed skills and knowledge to judge the situations presented in the books we read. 

We finished the sessions by providing the opportunity for students to get to know some of the most challenging books and inviting them to visit the LRC to get more information and even borrow from our collections.

Banned Books Week 2022 

Display

Here is a link to the photo gallery

By LRC Team

Banned Books Week

It is Banned Books Week this Week! Many books are banned each year and it has been this way throughout history. What is censorship? Why do people and organisations ban books? 

Do you agree or disagree with this practice? Does the LRC ban books? 

Follow this link if you would like to know more and check out the banned books display in the LRC.