Join the Clarence Mitchell Library for the fall 2022 common reading event, the HCC Banned Books Challenge! In addition to providing opportunities to hear and learn more about censorship and book banning, we will read and discuss three titles over the course of the fall semester. Enjoy “Working,” by Studs Terkel, “Gender Queer,” by Maia Kobabe, and “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time,” by Mark Haddon.
The Challenge provides a shared experience of intellectual and community engagement by bringing the campus community together to read and discuss these books and their themes. Discussions and related programs are scheduled throughout the fall semester.
Copies of the books are available for checkout via the Clarence Mitchell Library and PrairieCat, as well as e-Books and e-Audiobooks via the Libby app.
Resources
Articles about Working by Studs Terkel:
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/09/26/specials/terkel-protest.html
Studs Terkel’s recorded interviews of working people:
Studs Terkel comments on Working: https://youtu.be/Oyl1BvHo9LM
Studs Terkel interviews students at the Highschool where Working was challenged: https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/programs/studs-teachers-and-students-have-conversation-high-school-where-there-controversy-over-use
Articles about Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe:
Lots of YouTube videos featuring author Maia Kobabe: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=maia+kobabe
https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=768424810804328&_rdr
Articles about The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon:
https://www.pastemagazine.com/books/curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time-bann/
Mark Haddon interview: https://youtu.be/2RcDm7BOOAk
Emily Knox (guest speaker) website: https://emilyknox.net/
Articles about Book Banning:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-education/lgbt-books-kids-ban
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/07/15/1055959/book-bans-social-media-harassment/https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2022/07/15/vinton-iowa-library-embroiled-banned-book-debate-temporarily-closes-director/10012526002/
Outcomes
Goal: Establish a common reading experience to foster community at Highland Community College.
Readers will connect in and out of the classroom experiences.
Readers will identify community through shared reading and discussion experiences.
Goal: Provide opportunities for the Highland community to explore diverse perspectives and ways of viewing the world.
Readers will interact with others whose experiences and ideas may differ from their own.
Readers will utilize empathy to communicate within ongoing discussions.
Readers will recognize Highland’s core values of integrity, compassion, and respect.
Goal: Create opportunities for the Highland community to participate in scholarly conversation.
Readers will see themselves as contributors to scholarship rather than as only consumers of it.
Readers will recognize that scholarly conversations are ongoing and the conversation is never finished.
Readers will recognize a comfortable, safe environment that is conducive to learning.
Events
August 22, 2022: Soft Launch
Copies of the HCC Banned Books Challenge titles will be available for checkout in the library and via Libby app.
September 7, 2022: Official Kickoff
Stop by our table at the Fall Picnic to enter your name in a drawing. Three lucky winners will get copies of each of the three Banned Books Challenge titles.
September 13, 2022: Banned Books and Freedom of Expression
Zoom™
2 p.m.
Join the Zoom™ presentation here.
Emily Knox is an associate professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her presentation will provide context for understanding the individual right to freedom of expression and how it intersects with intellectual freedom. She will focus on individual autonomy, self-realization, social justice and how these issues are intertwined with freedom of expression and book challenges.
September 19 – 23, 2022: Banned Books Week
Drop in the library during our open hours to peruse our live and digital displays of banned books.
September 27, 2022: Book Discussion: Working by Studs Terkel
10 a.m.
Join the Zoom™ presentation here.
September 28, 2022: Book Discussion: Working by Studs Terkel
2 p.m.
Join the Zoom™ presentation here.
October 25, 2022: Book Discussion: Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
10 a.m.
Join the Zoom™ presentation here.
October 26, 2022: Book Discussion: Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
2 p.m.
Join the Zoom™ presentation here.
November 29, 2022: Book Discussion: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
10 a.m.
Join the Zoom™ presentation here.
November 30, 2022: Book Discussion: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon