by Alexa Taras | 20 May 2025 | Culture, Education, Hewitt, Media Literacy, Politics, Student Posts, Youth Voices
Curling up with a good book is a basic pleasure. But these days doing just that might be a political statement. A book on a shelf comes with a warning. (Illustration by News Decoder) This article, by high school student Alexa Taras was produced out of News Decoder’s...
by Norma Hilton | 20 Mar 2025 | Culture, Education, Environment, Media Literacy
Sometimes, made-up characters can get through to people more effectively than real-life scientists and educators. Hiding behind a shelf of books, Dr. Seuss’ Lorax tells the cat from the animated movie “Flow” that he speaks for the trees....
by Paul Spencer Sochaczewski | 13 Jun 2024 | Culture
We may not recognize them, but we all undertake quests. They can be grand and cinematic, or quiet and reflective. They all change our lives. Hanuman, the flying monkey god. The quest in search of Hanuman’s mountain took Paul Spencer Sochaczewski some 30 years to...
by Kaja Andrić | 15 Apr 2024 | Education, Media Literacy, News Decoder Updates
Our new board member wants to foster the insatiable curiosity we all have, whether through a book pulled off a shelf or a digital site like News Decoder. Audrey Chapuis giving a talk at the American Library of Paris. (Credit: Krystal Kenney) Ask Audrey Chapuis what...
by Emily Ireland | 27 Feb 2024 | Contest winners, Culture, Education, Educators' Catalog, Media Literacy, St. Andrew's, Student Posts, Youth Voices
In more regions around the world people want to keep some books out of the hands of youth. But these are the books that engage kids the most. A heavy chain and lock covers three novels at the heart of book banning controversies. (Illustration by News Decoder) This...
Book bans have historically been linked to authoritarian regimes. In recent years, we’ve seen the rise of book bans in democratic countries, too. This is a disturbing trend, and young people are noticing, too. In this piece from high schooler Emily Ireland of St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in the U.S. state of Mississippi, prompt student thinking on censorship and banning books with an evidence-based reasoning activity.
Exercise: Read the article with your class. Then, launch a class discussion on whether there are book topics that should or shouldn’t be banned in public schools in your country. Be sure to get into the nuances of this complicated topic: if some topics are inappropriate for certain audiences, who should be responsible for restricting access? Should it be governments, parents, schools? How might these parameters change from country to country, depending on context? This activity is well-suited to be a complementary teaching tool on a lesson about civil liberties (e.g. in the United States, the Bill of Rights).