New research appearing during Banned Books Week shows a correlation between challenges and a particular title’s diversity in authorship and subject matter. Because such books are rarely afforded placement in the traditional literary canon, participants rarely consider them when they tell us that they want to “read the classics.” By teaching Toni Morrison and Salmon Rushdie alongside William Shakespeare and Nathaniel Hawthorne we have an opportunity to signal the importance of creating a new canon for the twenty-first century.
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News came last week that Zadie Smith, the 38 year-old English writer was named to the shortlist for the BBC’s National Short Story Award. In this installment of “A Text at Work” we invite discussion on Zadie Smith’s short story, “Moonlit Landscape with Bridge”.
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Summer offers an opportunity to read widely and deeply – not only because reading is illuminating and invigorating, but because we may even find more time to dig into a longer or more challenging book. Without good summer reading, we face the possibility of a summer slide. As fall officially descends later this month, let’s commit to continuing reading substantive, challenging, thought-provoking books every season of the year.
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In order to realize our mission of more engaged reading as a community of learners and thinkers, we need greater investment in building basic literacy skills. That is why basic literacy programs – including efforts to support grade level reading and early childhood intervention – are so important. Basic literacy is a gateway for lifelong learning and the expansion of educational and economic opportunities. We honor and celebrate this work on International Literacy Day.
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Labor Day offers an opportunity for politicians and economists to offer their two cents on the state of labor. It’s a good bet that some of that commentary will focus on the so-called “skills gap”—the notion that millions of jobs in highly technical fields remain unfilled while millions of Americans without those skills remain unemployed. The solution according to the pundits? Education and training that focuses on technical skills. If only it were so simple.
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Professional development opportunities are big business. An industry trade organization reports that American corporations spent over $160 billion on workforce training and development in 2012, an average expenditure of over $1000 per employee. Yet how often do those professional development dollars flow to the school bus driver, the warehouse worker, or the shop floor employee of a food services company? Rarely.
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In which we welcome our new Academic Director, Rachel Burstein, to Books@Work. As Rachel writes: “I am joining Books@Work as the Academic Director because I can think of no more important project than the work of helping readers engage texts deeply, profoundly, and in potentially life-changing ways.” Please help us welcome her to the fold!
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As Americans prepare to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it is worth remembering the long tradition of poetry dedicated to national identity. The best of this poetry is both challenging and affirmative, declaring, as Walt Whitman does in “I Hear America Singing,” “the varied carols” of each person “singing what belongs to him and her.” Such literature beckons us to what Lincoln called a “more perfect union.”
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