Simply Saturday

The weather has cooled down nicely up here. Our wood for the winter arrives on Monday and its a darn good thing; we’re going to need fires in the woodstove to take the chill out of the air very soon.

Banned Books Week is almost upon us. What will you be doing to recognize it this year?

 Bookmans, an independent bookstore with six locations in Arizona, created this video for the 2012 Banned Books Week Virtual Read-Out.

I have not heard any banning attempts on any of my books so far this school year. Have the censors moved on to other targets? Even though Speak was restored to the shelves of the high school in Liberty, MO, Slaughterhouse-Five was not.

In other news, Kristen Stewart named Speak as one of the three books that changed her life.

This PSA aired after the first showing of Kristen in the Speak movie. The hotline had never gotten such a tremendous response. Blew. Up. The. Phones.

Someone sent me a link to a recent interview in which she said that the response to both the movie and the PSA helped her see the impact that film can have in people’s lives. The embed code for the video is screwed up, but you should be able to see it on The Hollywood Reporter site. She talks about Speak starting at about the 3:40 mark. She was so, so young when she made the movie, but her talent was undeniable. It’s been fun to watch her develop as an actress. (Though when the press hounds her, I get really defensive and want to start yelling at people!)

Along with writing like crazy, I’m getting ready for my trip to Arizona at the end of the month, where I’ll be speaking at the Arizona English Teacher’s Association Conference.

I’m also trying to pull together the Common Core Standards that can be met by using Chains and Forge in the English or Social Studies classroom. Do any of you have any experience with this?

That’s all for now. Time to dig out a sweatshirt and get ready for a bonfire tonight.

7 Replies to “Simply Saturday”

  1. Hey, Laurie, I recently created a curriculum based on the Common Core Standards for my MG novel LOSING IT. I started because I wanted to be able to teach my own book to my classes, but quickly realized what a great tool this would be to give to teachers who might want to do the same. I’ve posted the curriculum on my website and I plan to bring a short sample to hand to teachers when I do signings. Hope that helps.

  2. Hi Laurie,
    I am currently working on a unit surrounding the Revolutionary War for my 5th and 6th graders surrounding chains. I am actually writing a unit for a class. While I will be looking at the Colorado Standards, they are linked to the Common Core. It is so funny- I was actually listening to Chains tonight in the car and I heard the reference to Hatboro! Ahh, the memories… I am just getting started with my planning, but I would be happy to chat with you more about it!

  3. Laurie,

    You know I love and promote your works (@SafeLibraries) and how you make positive differences in people’s lives, but please be aware that no books have been banned in the USA for about half a century. Thomas Sowell calls Banned Books Week “National Hogwash Week” and for good reason. As former ALA Councilor Jessamyn West said, “It also highlights the thing we know about Banned Books Week that we don’t talk about much — the bulk of these books are challenged by parents for being age-inappropriate for children. While I think this is still a formidable thing for librarians to deal with, it’s totally different from people trying to block a book from being sold at all.”

    Read what Dr. Sowell said and many others here: http://tinyurl.com/Sowell

    Thank you.

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