Banned Books Week is September 21-27 this year, and I know libraries across the country are doing all sorts of book displays- I’ve seen the ideas working around Pinterest and various discussion boards. I’ve done them myself, and while they get a LOT of interest at my library, they don’t translate into circulation stats or program stats.
However, if I make something super secret, almost clandestine, and hand out personal secret invitations, THEN I start to get somewhere. Even more so if there’s food involved. So, instead of making a book display tying up the books, why not have a movie festival?
I’ve gone through the American Library Association’s List of Top 10 Challenged Books by Year, and pulled out 15 books that were turned into movies, along with the reasons they were challenged. These are wonderful opportunities to turn these movies into discussions about why these works pull out emotions in people, and why some felt that they needed to be removed- the whole basis for Banned Book Week. In addition, you can also talk about how different the movies are from the books (very, not so much, etc.) and who feels which is better (book, movie, neither).
Note: Those that have asterisks (*) are not covered by Movie Licensing USA, so please check with your library’s umbrella licensing company if you plan to show a film. I adore movies, but I enjoy getting a paycheck more and showing a movie is not worth losing your job over.
- Hunger Games (Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group)
- Perks of Being a Wallflower (drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group)
- Bless Me, Ultima* (Occult/Satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit)
- Kite Runner* (Homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit)
- Brave New World* (insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit)
- To Kill a Mockingbird (offensive language; racism)
- Twilight (religious viewpoint and violence)
- Catcher in the Rye* (offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group)
- My Sister’s Keeper (homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, violence)
- The Chocolate War* (nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group)
- The Golden Compass (political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, and violence)
- Harry Potter series (occult/Satanism)
- Bridge to Terabithia (occult/Satanism, offensive language)
- Blood and Chocolate (sexually explicit, unsuited to age group)
- Of Mice and Men (offensive language, racism, unsuited to age group, violence)