September Newsletter
[2015]
LUNCH ACTIVITIES
The Research Commons is now open for lunch
whenever you see the “open” sign on the wall by
the Student Union. Please feel free to come on in
if the sign is up. (If it isn’t there, chances are we
are hosting a class or the staff is unavailable to
help you.)
[cover image from blogs.slj.com]
BOOK FEATURE
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls; c1961,
212 p.; fiction
Ten year old Billy is infected with “puppy love”.
He does everything he can to raise enough money
for two hound pups. Two years later, he goes into
town and buys the two pups. He trains the pups
and soon enough they become the best hunting
dogs in town.
Where the Red Fern Grows is a very interesting
book. It shows the real love of a boy and two
dogs, and will keep you reading.
J.M. (a student)
This classic book hooks readers with suspense,
action, tragedy, love, dedication, and more
tragedy. The main character works hard for
everything that he achieves and readers will find
themselves rooting for him to succeed. Share the
joys, the horror, the tears, and the warmth to be
found in this wonderful book. Highly
recommended.
Your RC staff
Standard RC business includes research, reading,
homework, and getting or returning books, but
did you know that we also host games? You may
bring your own on any day of the week, or
borrow ours on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or
Thursdays. We do ask that you play quietly and
clean up when done. If the noise gets out of
hand for our readers or nearby classes, we will
have to pull the games for a few days, so please
think carefully about your behavior while in the
RC.
Some available games include chess, checkers,
playing cards, UNO, Monopoly, Sorry, Battleship,
Connect Four, Mastermind, and many more. If
you haven’t done so already, please stop by some
time and give them a try!
OPEN FOR BUSINESS
Orientation information was offered to all grades
in August and the Research Commons is now
fully open for business. Students are welcome
before and after school whenever the open sign
is out, as well as throughout the day on passes.
Watch for the open sign at lunch as well (see
article above), and welcome to all!
[REMINDERS]
We are still looking for book reviews from our
readers if any interested students or staff would
like to submit some. You may drop them off with
the RC staff or send them by e-mail to
[email protected]. Bear in mind that they
may be slightly edited before appearing in the
newsletter. Thank you in advance for your
contributions!
BANNED BOOKS WEEK
Banned Books Week is coming! This annual
celebration of the freedom to read, sponsored by
libraries and book stores throughout the nation,
will run from September 27th to October 3rd. This
year the focus is on Young Adult books. Did you
know that six of the top ten most frequently
challenged books of 2014 were YA titles?
To “challenge a book” is to call for its restriction or
removal, be it from a certain age of reader, from a
classroom, from a library, or from elsewhere in the
community. By drawing attention to such
challenges, it is the hope of those sponsoring
Banned Books Week that readers will consider the
complex issues surrounding all censorship
attempts and will not take their freedoms for
granted.
Judith Platt, chair of the Banned Books Week
National Committee, was quoted in the Banned
Books Week admin blog as saying, “Young Adult
books are challenged more frequently than any
other type of book. These are the books that
speak most immediately to young people, dealing
with many of the difficult issues that arise in their
own lives, or in the lives of their friends. These are
the books that give young readers the ability to
safely explore the sometimes scary real world. This
Banned Books Week is a call to action, to remind
everyone that young people need to be allowed
the freedom to read widely, to read books that are
relevant for them, and to be able to make their
own reading choices.”
How do you think you would feel if someone
proposed restricting some of your favorite books?
What, if anything, could you do about it? Why
should you care? Banned Books Week is a time to
think about questions like these.
[An official Banned Books Week image from ala.org]
FREQUENTLY CHALLENGED BOOKS 2000-2009
Here is a short selection of some of the many
books you can find in your Research Commons
that appeared on the list of 100 most
frequently challenged books of the last
decade. How many are you familiar with? Why
do you think they were considered
objectionable? Which have you read?
Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling
Alice (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz
His Dark Materials (series) by Philip Pullman
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark
Twain
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Crazy Lady by Jane Leslie Conly
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Goosebumps (series) by R. L. Stine