02 December 2014

What happened during Banned Books Week


The Banned Books displays in all three LRCs last week raised lots of interesting questions about why books might be banned and led to further discussions on topics ranging from Hitler to Martin Luther King, to the Qur'an and the Bible. Students couldn't believe the range of books that have been banned over time.

Some students were brave enough to 'liberate' (borrow) books from the LRC displays. We look forward to hearing their views.



Class visit to Banned Books display at Farnham College

At Farnham College four English classes came to see the displays and do the quizzes. This included two A level classes studying political correctness in language, so the theme of banned books tied in well.

Quiz results:
  • At Farnham College Deni Wither won the main Banned Book quiz
  • Also at Farnham Lily Bohling won the word hunt, finding an amazing 88 words in 'Banned Books'! Although even more amazing was that adding together all words found by students and library staff, the total was 179! (there may even be more...)
  • At Guildford College Musaed AlFoudari correctly identified the 10 banned books from the 15 pictured in the quiz (and wins a £10 print voucher)
For those still wondering, the correct answers to the Guildford College quiz were:

Banned:

 

  • Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (J K Rowling)
  • To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
  • A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess)
  • The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
  • Wild Swans (Jung Chang)
  • Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
  • And Tango Makes Three (Justin Richardson)
  • The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
  • The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky)
  • Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck)
Not Banned:
  • The Brutal Art (Jesse Kellerman)
  • Women in Love (D H Lawrence)
  • Hairy-Scary Monster (Roderick Hunt)
  • Birdsong (Sebastian Faulks)
  • The Godfather (Mario Puzo)