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Durango High School students debate banning of books

Club discusses freedom to read
Josie Surmeier, 17, reads a display Tuesday about Banned Books Week in front of the Durango High School library. Teacher-librarian Steve Powell, who has several badges he wears during the week, wore a button Tuesday that says, “Free People Read Freely.”

During

That struggle was the focus of a discussion by Durango High School’s Reading Alternative Books in Durango group at Maria’s Bookshop on Sunday.

“We discussed ‘Is there ever a time a book should be banned?’’’ said teacher-librarian Steve Powell, who sponsors the group. “Some thought it might be more of a question of a maturity level – some books might not be OK for elementary students, but are fine for high school students or adults.”

RABID – a name the students selected because of the acronym – meets twice a week at lunchtime to discuss book topics as well as books, Powell said. “We usually talk about things like, ‘What makes a good character?’ or ‘What do you look for in a book you recommend to someone else?’”

As rabid readers, the group’s members are never short of ideas for discussion, but this topic challenged them in a different way, he said. The students spent part of their time at Maria’s looking at books that have been challenged or banned.

“They kept pulling books out and saying, ‘I just read this one,’” he said. “Then they’d say, ‘Why did someone think this was objectionable?’ There was a lot of rolling of the eyes.”

Some of the books on the list that surprised the students were The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey and Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

“They ended on a note that they didn’t like the idea of banning a book for everyone,” Powell said. “They said if you don’t like a book, don’t read it. But they didn’t like the idea of taking away of choice, and they really didn’t like the idea of the government banning books.”

Challenged books in the classroom require extra care by teachers, he said, but that doesn’t mean they’re eliminated from the curriculum.

“We always give a heads-up,” he said. “In many cases, English teachers set them up, even in their literary circles, what the book is like, what the philosophical aspect is.”

There are two reasons for the heads-up, Powell said.

“Of course, it keeps kids and parents and aware,” he said, “but it’s also just good teaching.”

abutler@durangoherald.com

If you go

The students in Brian Bagdol’s Escalante Middle School class will read from banned books at 12:30 p.m. Friday in front of Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.

Sep 22, 2016
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Sep 27, 2015
Banned Books Week focuses on young adult fiction


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