Booksellers around the country are responding to the Internet read-out that is the focus of this year’s Banned Books Week, Sept. 24-Oct. 1. Bookstores of all sizes are planning events during which they will create videos of customers reading from their favorite banned books. "We are really pleased with the response from bookstores. In addition to the Tattered Cover Book Store and other stalwart supporters of Banned Books Week, we have been contacted by stores that are planning their first BBW events," Chris Finan, president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), said.
Pat Moody of the Hickory Stick Bookshop in Washington Depot, Connecticut, has invited local authors, artists, teachers and town officials to join the read-out in her store. "Everyone I have spoken to is very excited to participate in our Freedom to Read event," Moody said.
Two kinds of videos will be posted on the special YouTube channel created for the read-out: readings from banned books and eyewitness accounts of book challenges. Shawn Wathen of Chapter One Bookstore in Hamilton, Montana, plans to create videos of people who have opposed book challenges in the local schools.
