Banned Books Week: Virtual Readouts

bbw_virtualreadout_logo3_lgAre you interested in participating in Banned Books Week, but don’t know how? Consider joining many celebrities, libraries and bookstores across the country in the Banned Books Virtual Read-Out!

Participants may proclaim the importance of the freedom to read by posting videos that will be featured on the Banned Books Week Virtual Read-Out YouTube channel.

Video criteria

*Choose a favorite banned/challenged book and talk about what the book meant to you and how you would feel if someone prevented you from reading it.

*A reading of a banned or challenged book. The video should include information on where and why the book was banned or challenged. You may also wish to add your thoughts on the importance of keeping that particular book on library or bookstore shelves.

*Discuss an eyewitness accounts of local challenges.

*For those who are camera shy, you can still participate in the Banned Books Virtual Read-out by creating a video montage that centers on banned/challenged books. Thomas University created a video last year that can be used as an example.

Submitting your video

Submit your video by filling out this form. You must have a YouTube/Gmail account in order to upload to YouTube.

Source: American Library Association, Office of Intellectual Freedom

Keep Quiet by Lisa Scottoline

keep-quietKeep Quiet by Lisa Scottoline is a gut-wrenching book that begins by introducing Jake Whitmore, his son Ryan, and Jake’s wife, Pam. Tensions seem to be running high in the Whitmore family, stemming from Jake’s loss of job a year ago. The family bore the brunt of his frustration and as a result, Ryan distanced himself from his father and became closer with his mother. Jake and Pam went into therapy to rebuild their relationship. Their current focus is on bringing Ryan and Jake closer together.

Jake is sent to pick up Ryan from the movies when they get into a car accident. This accident threatens the stability of their family and the tenuous relationships that hold them all together. Ryan’s future is on the line and in a split-second, Jake makes a decision that saves his son from a disastrous future. While at the time this seems like the best decision, it instead sends them both down a dark spiral of secrets, lies, and immense guilt. Jake thinks he has everything under control, but someone emerges from the woodwork with the power to destroy his carefully laid plans and expose Jake and Ryan’s dark secret. That life changing accident holds the power to destroy all their lives and Jake is struggling to hold the family together. This book is an intensely powerful guilt-laden journey into the lives of a family who are trying to redeem themselves while their whole world is unraveling around them.


This book is also available in the following formats: