Today the Brentwood Public Library board handed down its unanimous decision to keep Uncle Bobby's Wedding, a picture book by Sarah S. Brannen that had recently drawn objections from a patron. Library Director Vicky Wood initially offered a written response to the complaint, affirming the library's duty to provide access to a variety of materials: "Today, even in Brentwood, there [...]
Issue 117, Fall 2012 Join NCAC for our Free Speech Matters: Annual Celebration of Free Speech and Its Defenders on Monday, November 12, 2012 at Tribeca 360° in Manhattan. Visit ncac.org/benefit for rsvp and sponsorship information, or email [email protected]. A Wisconsin state park cancelled the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s play, The Bible: Complete Word of God, Abridged, after criticism that the [...]
Issue 117, Fall 2012 Censorship is all about controlling what people think and do by regulating what they know and say. Nowhere is this more evident than in the never-ending battles over speech about sex, sexuality and reproduction. As noted in this issue, kids are the main target of censorship of sexual content. “Abstinence-only-until-marriage”programs in public schools eliminate discussion of [...]
Issue 117, Fall 2012 NCAC mourns the passing of Alan Reitman at age 91, on July 8, 2012, after a lifetime of dedication to the fight for free expression. Alan was one of the founders of NCAC and served on its board for many years, in addition to over 40 years of distinguished service with the ACLU. NCAC is grateful [...]
The Supreme Court has played a major role in perpetuating our cultural ambivalence about sexual expression, on the one hand by affirming that sexual expression is constitutionally protected – at least for adults – and on the other by sanctioning government censorship of otherwise lawful sexual expression in the name of “protecting” minors. The result hasn’t always been pretty. Can [...]
Issue 117, Fall 2012 Ah, sex. We love to think about it, we also love to condemn it. Censors are second perhaps only to pornographers in the amount of time they spend talking about sex. NCAC was launched in the wake of a 1973 landmark obscenity case, Miller v. California, and to this day censorship of sex is the biggest [...]
Issue 117, Fall 2012 Sex is, as the late Justice William Brennan said, “a great and mysterious motive force in human life [which] has indisputably been a subject of absorbing interest to mankind through the ages.” However, from 19th century vice societies and public morality campaigns to contemporary attacks on pornography, Americans have been at war over sexual expression [...]
Great news! Bastard out of Carolina and Angels in America will be taught in Fremont to all those who wish to learn, notwithstanding the Fremont Unified School District's decision to ban the books from its English curriculum. Thanks to the efforts of Rev. Jeremy Nickel of the Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation, the class will begin tonight and continue throughout the school year. [...]
The American Library Association teamed up with us this week on a letter to the Rocklin Unified School District, where they are currently considering pulling Different Seasons by Stephen King out of school libraries. After her ninth grade son brought the book home from the library, a parent complained about sexual content in the book, specifically in the story "Apt Pupil." [...]
In King County, WA, the public library system responded to a complaint over a manga novel, Hero Heel 2, in the best possible way: by reaffirming the freedom of access of its patrons and responsibility of parents. Yay, librarians! Like graphic novels and comics, manga is sometimes misunderstood by readers and parents who (wrongly) presume that because the books contain a large [...]
Kids' Right to Read responded to the removal of Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate from classrooms in Nampa School District in Idaho. Informal complaints led the school to ban the book, despite the fact alternative assignments were offered and no formal process had been followed.
Kids' Right to Read was joined by the American Library Association in defense of Stephen King's Different Seasons which has been challenged in a school library in Rocklin, CA. A parent objected to a rape scene in the novella "Apt Pupil" and wants the book removed.
How Does The First Amendment Impact Your Life? A new essay has been submitted:Name: ThomasEssay: I'm a teenage male feminist. I don't live in America, but when I go back to go to university I might need to invoke my first amendment ri...
Censorship of Betsy Schneider's "Quotidian" in response to complaints jeopardizes the institution's integrity and commitment to artistic freedom.
In evaluating and reviewing a recent challenge to Stephen King's Different Seasons (Signet, 1982) in a high school library in Rocklin, California, we were amused to read the following passage in King's the story "Apt Pupil". In the passage, the main character, 13-year-old Todd, is discussing his interest in and research into the Nazi death camps during World War II: "At first the [...]
NCAC joined with the American Booksellers Foundation For Free Expression and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in writing a letter of support to the King County Library System for their response to a recent challenge of Hero Heel 2, a manga title intended for mature audiences.
Score one for the robots freedom to read supporters! A seven-person committee in the Hardin Valley Academy, in Knox County, TN has decided that Daniel H. Wilson's "Robopocalypse" should stay in the school's curriculum. The best-selling science fiction book about a hostile robot takeover was selected as the STEM Academy's summer read to keep students engaged in a light but [...]
Books get pulled from library shelves and school curricula all the time because someone complains about the language they contain or the topics they address. Tell us about a time when parents, a teacher or some other adult was distressed at what you or someone you know were reading -- and wanted to take it away. You can also submit [...]
Teen Free Speech Fighters! There's still time to enter the Youth Free Expression Project's annual film contest and potentially win $1,000 cash prize and a $5,000 scholarship to the New York Film Academy. We've extended the deadline to November 25, so get out your cameras and tell us a creative story about a time where an adult or other individual [...]
Guernica magazine featured a great interview with frequently challenged and banned author, Sherman Alexie. Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian has appeared on the ALA's most challenged list in both 2010 and 2011; the Kids' Right to Read Project has defended the book in Missouri, Oregon and Washington state, to name just a few. In the interview, Alexie answers [...]
During Banned Books Week last week, the PEN American Center featured an essay on the topic of book censorship and young adult readers by author Keith Gray. In his article, Gray talks about how he is frequently worrying about, not his teen readers, but the gatekeepers. Gatekeepers are basically any adult who might be on the road between the teen [...]
Last week, in the midst of the media derecho catapulting the celebration of Banned Books Week, we came upon this article in the Chicago Tribune written by author James Klise. Klise manages a high school library in Chicago and is the author of Love Drugged, which Booklist called “An excellent novel for classroom and GSA discussion."Love Drugged was also an ALA Stonewall Honor Book in 2011 [...]
Erin reads from Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by legendary YA pioneer and Free Speech Defender Judy Blume.
Heather reads from Speak, by NCAC 2011 Free Speech Matters awardee Laurie Halse Anderson, at the Brooklyn Book Festival
Susanne, a volunteer with the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, reads from Slaughterhouse Five to help celebrate Banned Books at the Brooklyn Book Festival. Subscribe to our channel or visit NCAC online for more videos about free expression.
Walt Whitman reads from Leaves of Grass at the 2012 Brooklyn Book Festival to help celebrate Banned Books Week. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos about free speech.
A reading from The Giver to help celebrate Banned Books at the Brooklyn Book Festival.
Liz reads from Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume to help celebrate Banned Books Week with the National Coalition Against Censorship
Marjorie Heines reads from Molly Bloom's Soliloquy in Ulysses by James Joyce to help celebrate Banned Books Week.
https://ncac.org Francisco reads from Lady Chatterly's Lover to help celebrate Banned Books at the Brooklyn Book Festival. Subscribe to our channel or visit NCAC online for more readings throughout Banned Books Week!
https://ncac.org Gehad reads from Looking For Alaska to help celebrate Banned Books at the Brooklyn Book Festival. Subscribe to our channel or visit NCAC online for more readings throughout Banned Books Week!
https://ncac.org Michael reads from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings to help celebrate Banned Books at the Brooklyn Book Festival. Subscribe to our channel or visit NCAC online for more readings throughout Banned Books Week!
https://ncac.org Claudia reads from The Family Book to help celebrate Banned Books at the Brooklyn Book Festival. Subscribe to our channel or visit NCAC online for more readings throughout Banned Books Week!
“If you have freedom of speech, you have freedom of speech,” publishing legend Barney Rosset was quoted as saying. Rosset was responsible for the publication of many celebrated works of American literature, especially those that pushed the envelope in terms of sexual content. A staunch defender of the freedom to read, Rosset risked his reputation, business, and life on his [...]
On September 23, we brought our Banned Books Library to the Brooklyn Book Fest and let passersby read to us from some of their favorite titles. Better than cat videos, that's for sure! Check out the whole playlist on our YouTube channel. Want to participate in the Banned Books Week Virtual Readout? Shoot your own video! Click here for more [...]
School is back in session, and that means censorship attempts are back en force as well. Kids' Right to Read has tackled several challenges to summer reading selections recently, including on to Sidescrollers, a graphic novel by Matt Loux (Oni Press). The book about a group of slacker friends, was named one of the Young Adult Library Association's top ten [...]
https://ncac.org Sophie reads from Lolita to help celebrate Banned Books at the Brooklyn Book Festival. Subscribe to our channel or visit NCAC online for more readings throughout Banned Books Week!
https://ncac.org Arlene reads from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to help celebrate Banned Books at the Brooklyn Book Festival. Subscribe to our channel or visit NCAC online for more readings throughout Banned Books Week!
https://ncac.org Clara reads from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to help celebrate Banned Books at the Brooklyn Book Festival. Subscribe to our channel or visit NCAC online for more readings throughout Banned Books Week!
The ACLU of Texas published their 16th annual Banned Books Report for the occasion of Banned Books Week this week and it both looks amazing and has great content. In addition to detailed information about books that were challenged and banned across the state in 2012, the report has a great interview with writer and activist Tony Diaz. Diaz joined NCAC and [...]
