Highlights from Banned Books Week 2022

This week (Sept 18-24) was Banned Books Week and you know what - it felt a little bit like Christmas finally arrived 'round these parts!

Banned Book Box

First of all, let me share a peek behind-the-curtain. Y'all, I have been carefully curating the Banned Book Box for the past two months! I've been living and breathing everything banned books, corresponding and collaborating with other small businesses to bring you the absolute best Banned Book Box imaginable.

Second, I’ve been back-burner planning how Pretty Literate would participate during Banned Books Week for several weeks in addition to offering the Banned Book Box to compliment the cause.

Last week it took two full days to get all of those Banned Book Boxes carefully packed! 

A few days after they shipped, I began receiving private messages and Pretty Literate began getting tagged on unboxing posts on social media, which just fanned the flame (pun intended) of my excitement for Banned Books Week.

The Pretty Literate Blog

Then there's the blogs. For the past three weeks, all of Pretty Literate's Blogs have been dedicated to Banned Books Week. 

  • Be a Rebel Reader, which served as an introduction to Banned Books Week since it was inevitable that it would be new to some Pretty Literate people.
  • I Read Banned Books, which introduced the idea of reading ONE BOOK together as a community of readers (that ONE BOOK being Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451)
  • 5 Classics to Read for Banned Books Week, which provided titles to check out for those that were unable to get one of Pretty Literate's Banned Book Boxes, titles that you likely would be able to check out from your local library. This was a short list of classic books that had each done their time on a banned books list at one point or another.

Pretty Literate Live

Don't even get me started on Pretty Literate Live. All month long, I’ve talked about nothing but Banned Books Week during every PL Live – the one about banning book banning, the one with a laughable look at book banning, and even the one during banned books week.

(Psst! I've got one more - the one when I UNBOX the Banned Book Box!)

Social Media

In addition to all of the above, there were my own social posts on YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Facebook - talking, sharing, educating, trivializing, and connecting in the unique ways each of those platforms work to reach a broader community of readers like us.

It’s been a lot!

And you know what? It's all been worth it.

Banned Books Trivia

The Banned Books Trivia has been a fun way to learn more about book challenges and bans. You played along in the comments and more often than not, your guesses were correct! The trivia served as a non-threatening way to raise awareness & to start learning more about Banned Books. Thank you for participating!

Read-Along

So many of you took me up on my invitation to READ ALONG with us as we worked our way through Fahrenheit 451 this week, even if you were not able to get one of the Banned Book Boxes (because they sold out). Some of you visited your local library or favorite bookstore and begin reading a copy you sourced yourself and I'm so glad you joined us in reading this truly astounding classic because we did something we do inside our private Facebook Group exclusively for our Monthly Book Box subscribers.

Dialogue

I brought the fun and excitement that we have inside Pretty Literate’s private group to the public page for Banned Books Week so that the larger Pretty Literate community could also participate. You read through the comments and left your own because these posts were, after all, conversation STARTERS. YOUR COMMENTS are what turned them into conversations and conversations serve as an important part of Banned Books Week! Thank you so much for keeping the conversation going in such an open, respectful way.

Virtual Book Club

On Thursday, September 22 at 7 pm Central we did something special for Banned Books Week (and Fahrenheit 451, in particular) during Pretty Literate’s Monthly Virtual Book Club (via Zoom). In addition to playing a little trivia, Banned Books Bingo, and participating in a virtual scavenger hunt, we also talked about some of the bigger issues presented inside Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and even got book recs for more banned books to read from our #PLeeps, a.k.a. Pretty Literate People. (I'll share those titles next week on social.)

Keep It Going

It's been a lot, but it has ALL been worth it.

Let's not stop here.

Let's keep reading Banned Books and learning from perspectives different from our own. 

Let's keep the conversations going.

Let's keep growing.

What's Next?

Is there another title you saw this week that is a challenged or banned book that you want to read next? Share it in the comments.

Is there another classic that you feel would compliment Fahrenheit 451 as a follow up novel? Share it in the comments. 

1 comment

  • There are so many on the Bingo game that I want to read that it is hard to choose. I think I will see which ones Simon has read that I have not and start with those because then I can talk to him about them. 😉

    Ericka

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