Book Censorship

Board decides to restrict access to ‘Sex for Busy People,’ ‘The Lesbian Kama Sutra,’ ‘The Joy of Sex’ and ‘The Joy of Gay Sex’

By |2019-03-07T22:39:53-05:00February 20th, 2009|Blog|

In January, we reported on a Topeka, Kansas woman’s push to move books about sexuality to a restricted section. As Rebecca wrote then, “Restricting books may seem like a fine compromise, but it has a serious chilling effect on library patrons’ reading selection, and adopting such a policy would permit one person to enforce her views on everyone else.” Yesterday, [...]

The Week in Book Censorship

By |2020-01-03T13:19:45-05:00February 6th, 2009|Blog|

It has been a busy week for book censorship. On Tuesday, MSNBC reported that The Bookseller of Kabul, a nonfiction account of life inside an Afghan household, was removed from a high school in Wyandotte, Michigan. The book had been assigned for an 11th grade honors English class at Roosevelt High School. MSNBC quotes a former teacher at the school: [...]

School Board Votes Yes on Censorship

By |2019-03-13T15:17:12-04:00February 3rd, 2009|Blog|

We were disappointed to hear that the school board in Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District voted last night to ban Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya from English classes at Orestimba High School.  The 4-1 vote in favor of censorship upholds the superintendent’s decision to pull the book. In January, the Kids’ Right to Read Project was joined by PEN [...]

School officials rip pages from Girl, Interrupted

By |2020-01-02T15:33:21-05:00December 8th, 2008|Blog|

Students at New Rochelle High School found that pages from their reading assignment, Girl Interrupted, had been ripped out. Turns out: school officials pulled the pages to remove content they deemed "inappropriate" because of sexual content and profanity. It appears that the books were censored without first undergoing a formal review process. NCAC is working on a formal response to [...]

Poll: By censorship, you mean…

By |2019-02-25T12:23:48-05:00December 2nd, 2008|Blog|

2009 is approaching, and as we plan our next year, we want to know: what censorship issue is nearest and dearest to you? Your answers can help shape this blog and the kind of projects NCAC pursues. Feel free to write in answers. And send it along to friends and frenemies. [polldaddy poll="1158458"]

Isn’t book banning retro?

By |2019-03-15T18:09:54-04:00October 1st, 2008|Blog|

No. As The Birmingham News reports: According to the ALA's office for intellectual freedom, there were 420 documented attempts to ban books from libraries nationwide last year, and up to four times as many unreported attempts". What gets banned? "Topping the list typically are novels written for young adults, and fantasy books such as the Harry Potter series. The Potter [...]

Pornography Law Goes too Far

By |2017-06-08T11:31:59-04:00October 17th, 1997|Blog|

LOS ANGELES TIMES Friday, October 17, 1997 The first round of papers has been filed in a federal appeals court in San Francisco challenging the constitutionality of the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996. At the same time, the new movie version of Vladimir Nabokov's book Lolita, starring Jeremy Irons, is opening all over Europe, even though it is not [...]

New Hampshire Teacher Fired for Teaching “Unsuitable” Books Reinstated by School Board

By |2017-06-08T11:20:00-04:00September 1st, 1996|Blog|

Penny Culliton, a New Hampshire teacher who fought back against attempts to smear and ultimately fire her, has been reinstated by the Mascenic School Board following a decision of the state's Public Employee Labor Relations Board. The Labor Board upheld an arbitrator's previous award that had turned Culliton's dismissal into a one-year suspension.

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