Sat. 9/24 9a: This time on The Children's Hour, our summer interns Julia Wolfe and Sophie Anderson-Haynie have co-written and produced a program about Banned Books. They teach us what that means, the history of banning books, and how it's even possible in the era of digital reading.
We also learn about something that's being talked about a lot in the news, and is being used as a reason to ban books: Critical Race Theory. Julia and Sophie read us a book that is being banned in some schools because a few people think it teaches this college-level theory by telling the story the real-life Ruby Bridges. Listeners can decide for themselves.
The book tells about an historic moment in American history through Ruby's 6 year old eyes for a second grade level reader. The book was originally published in 2009 by Cartwheel Books, and today can be found as a Scholastic Reader! in many languages.
Banned Books Week is celebrated every year the last full week of September. This year, that's September 18 - 24, 2022. You can learn more about what children's books are the top 10 banned children's books of 2021, and why.
We play an excellent mix of music in celebration of a diversity of writing and reading.