Banned Book Week is a celebration of literature and a yearly reminder about representation and expression. It's important to note that many banned books, particularly with middle grade texts, are deemed appropriate to ban because they accurately represent their intended audience and because of their inclusivity.
As this years Banned Book Week closes out I wanted to share an activity I did with my students this past week. I am a big advocate for independent reading and I am always looking for ways to introduce new texts to my students. Given our current learning environment, I knew that this would have to look a bit different this year. Using Google Slides I created a virtual book tasting for my students to browse either synchronously or asynchronously. I had six focus categories that I based off of my students' interests: Realistic Fiction, Poetry, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Fall Favorites, and Sports. At the end of the tasting I had students complete an exit card and create their own "menu" using Google Forms. The exit card ended with an question of category/topic suggestions for our next tasting. (Apparently Horror is a must add!) The books in this tasting range from new best sellers to reliable classics. It also includes some frequently banned texts, most notably Alex Gino's George. I closed out our activity buy raffling off a gift card to our local bookstore based off of the exit cards I received. This was a fun activity and a great way for students to get a "taste" of some new texts.
For a working link to the activity click the image, for implementation/instructions see below.
Implementation/Instruction:
Click the image bellow to access the link
Share the link with students
Instruct students to browse books by selecting a category then a title
Each title will open up a new tab with information on that specific title
Once a student has finished with a particular title close out of the tab and select a new title from the category or select main menu
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