Banned Book Week--Be seen with a book in public!
Sunday starts the annual "Banned Book Week" (ala.org). In the current political and social dumpster fire that we find ourselves, it is all the more critical that we--and our young people-- read widely and deeply. They can't challenge the status quo if they don't have the knowledge and skills to do so--and stagnation will finish off what's left of our democracy, if we don't step up our game. How to celebrate reading? Read! Read to little ones, read to your partner, read to your neighbor, volunteer to read at a nursing home or hospital. Donate books-- new ones, some you've weeded out of your own pile, visit yard sales and buy books to give away on Halloween! Support teachers, representatives who are interested in literacy, young families who don't have a lot of money to buy books. It would be super fun to have a read-in somewhere in a public place--maybe the park? The playground? The steps to your local places of worship? Your representative's o