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For Banned Books Week, the Kids' Right to Read Project has released its annual recap of book censorship cases. Labeling books "sexually explicit", the teaching of Islam in schools and sanitizing slavery, it's all here in the form of a handy, printable flyer.
Update July 30: The school board has voted 6-1 to eliminate the entire summer reading list for incoming students at Cape Henlopen High School. Rather than reinstate Cameron Post, they will " return to the district's previous summer reading requirements, which demand college preparatory students read one book for the summer and honors students read two books," according to Delmarva Now. Update [...]
In public comments on Virginia's State Department of Education website and in a letter to board members, NCAC's Kids' Right to Read Project asked the Board of Education to reject a proposed amendment that would force schools to notify parents any time "sensitive" materials are used in the classroom.
School's out for the summer, but there's no vacation from book challenges. The Kids' Right to Read Project is battling a handful of censorship cases, including a push to remove The Bluest Eye from Advanced Placement courses in Adams County, Colorado. Find out more about the latest battles...
NCAC reached out quickly and effectively on a challenge to Jeannette Walls' The Glass Castle, a summer reading assignment for 9th graders in the Traverse City school district. A school board reconsideration committee had already supported removing the book, but the school board ultimately voted 4-3 to retain the book.
NCAC and nine partner organizations came together on a Kids' Right to Read Project letter to the Guilford School District in Greensboro, NC. The letter advised the district to stay strong and continue to follow its policies in the face of recent complaints over "The Handmaid's Tale", "Cat's Cradle" and other texts used in AP English classes. Parents in the district have complained that the texts "denigrate Christianity."
The Kids' Right to Read Project tackled two separate -- but similar -- challenges to books featured on summer reading lists: Sidescrollers, a graphic novel by Matt Loux, was removed in Enfield, CT; in Emmaus, PA, a board member has motioned to remove Prep and Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test from the list. No official parental complaint was filed in either case.
The Kids' Right to Read Project joined with partner organizations in writing a letter to the Fremont, CA School Board, warning against another rejection of the book Bastard Out of Carolina without sound pedagogical reasons. KRRP also wrote a letter in 2011 about the board's rejection of Tony Kushner's pulitzer-prize winning play Angels in America.
Patricia Polacco's In Our Mothers' House is a story about love and family. But its the non-traditional nature of the family which has drawn complaints from parents, resulting in restricted access. NCAC objects to the district's response to these objections and said as much in a letter to the Superintendent.
The Kids' Right to Read Project is urging the general public to speak out against book censorship at two high schools, one in Pennsylvania and the other in California where Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak and Jeannette Wall’s The Glass Castle are being challenged. KRRP is calling on supporters of free speech to advocate for students’ right to read everywhere, especially [...]
North Pocono High School
Temecula Valley Unified School District
Voices Against Book Censorship interviews author, blogger Lee Wind
Interview with FLB
Interview with Andy Towne
Kids' Right to Read Project Interview with Author, Maureen Johnson
What is school book censorship? The books taught in schools, and available in school libraries, should be chosen by professionals based on criteria that are as objective as possible, including the books' educational, pedagogical, literary and artistic values. When books are kept from students, whether they are removed from classroom teaching, taken off library shelves (or put into restricted [...]
WHO WE ARE Our Mission Every generation of Americans faces new and significant challenges to free expression. For almost 50 years, NCAC has acted as a first responder to protect this freedom, which is both a fundamental human right and a keystone of democracy in the ever-changing American nation. We promote freedom of thought and inquiry and oppose [...]
Wyoming school district considering a book challenge filed by a parent who argued against books about LGBTQ characters being available to students.
The National Coalition Against Censorship and the other national groups signed below call upon the Missouri legislature to reject Missouri House Bill 2044, a recently introduced library censorship bill. The bill poses urgent dangers to the constitutional rights of Missouri’s citizens, including librarians, parents, and children. It is also redundant in light of existing Missouri law that already makes it [...]
