NEW YORK – The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) today released a new resource that provides practical advice for authors whose books are being challenged and banned in K – 12 schools and libraries. Prepared in collaboration with writers who have faced censorship, it is available on the NCAC website. Book challenges can be exasperating, demoralizing, and deeply painful for [...]
NCAC contacts Hernando School District in Brooksville, Florida, to express its concerns about the removal of 13 books by Ellen Hopkins from its libraries. A district administrator claimed that the materials are "harmful to minors" under Florida Statute 847, which makes it illegal to provide minors with access to "obscene" materials. This is problematic because, under Florida law, a book [...]
Updated 2/2/23 – NCAC has received a response from the Superintendent of St Lucie Public Schools. He has agreed to follow the district's appeal process and to reconsider the four books that were improperly removed. On 1/18/23 - The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) wrote to St. Lucie Public Schools in St. Lucie, Florida regarding their response to book [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has written to Batesburg-Leesville Middle School in South Carolina regarding the removal of Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You from the school library. As we understand it, the school removed the book from the library in order to be compliant with South Carolina State Proviso 1.93, which prohibits certain school spending on ideas often [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has written to Spotsylvania County Public Schools in Virginia, regarding the removal of district library books without following their established review policy. As we understand the situation, in response to a local parent challenging 13 district library books, four were removed by district personnel without following Board Policy IIA*-R. This policy explicitly states [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has written to Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District in Grapevine, Texas, regarding recent policy changes which seem to allow library books to be removed based on the ideas they contain. As we understand the changes to Board Policy EMB (Local), the policy has been amended to restrict the use of instructional materials that advocate [...]
A high school English teacher at Norman School District in Norman, Oklahoma, was recently admonished for sharing a QR Code with students that led to book recommendations from the Brooklyn Public Library. A parent filed a complaint and claimed that recommended materials supported critical race theory, which is against the law in Oklahoma under HB 1775. HB 1775 has put [...]
[Portland, OR, September 12, 2022] - Accessibility to books and diverse author voices is essential in understanding the human experience and the world at large. This concept is core to the work we do at A Kids Co., and it's why we've partnered with the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) to write A Kids Book About Banned Books, released [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has written to the Madison County School Board in Ridgeland, Mississippi, regarding recent restrictions on 10 books, requiring students to obtain parental permission in order to read them. The 10 books in question address race-related or LQBTQ+ themes, and we are concerned that the district may have unconstitutionally targeted these books for the [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the School Board of the Collier County Public Schools in Naples, Florida, after District libraries recently added an “Advisory Notice” to hundreds of library books—raising censorship concerns. Placing advisory notices, or “red-flagging” books often misleadingly reduces complex literary works to a few isolated elements—those that some individuals may find objectionable—rather than [...]
Updated 11/28/2022— NCAC has written an additional letter to the Conroe ISD Board of Trustees. Originally published 8/22/2022— The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the Conroe Independent School District in Conroe, Texas, regarding recently adopted policies which require parental permission to check out allegedly obscene books from libraries while they are under review. Under the new policies, [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the School Board of Central Bucks School District in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, after recent proposed changes to the District’s Library Materials Policy raised serious censorship concerns. The Board voted to adopt the policy on July 26, 2022. The policy leaves the authority to remove materials in the hands of a single person. NCAC [...]
Updated 11/28/23 - The graphic novel Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe was returned to school libraries, although students must request access from the nurse. 7/19/22 - The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the Fairview School District School Board in Fairview, Pennsylvania, regarding a recent decision to remove Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer from the Fairview High School library. [...]
NCAC has written to the Nampa School District in Idaho after the School Board voted to permanently remove 22 books from the District’s libraries.
A Virginia legal action against two books profoundly threatens the freedom to read and could limit the availability of books in the state.
A school district in Walton County, Florida, recently received challenges to more than fifty library books.
Kyle Lukoff’s Call Me Max and Jazz Jennings’s I Am Jazz, which both feature transgender main characters, were removed from school libraries in Palm Beach County, Florida, without review. NCAC has written to the district urging them to immediately return the books to library shelves. The removal was purportedly in compliance with Florida House Bill 1557 which was recently signed [...]
NCAC is deeply concerned about a series of new Florida laws that threaten the ability of students to access information and are likely to cause a dramatic increase in censorship in Florida’s public schools.
NCAC has written to officials at Fredericksburg Independent School District in Texas after numerous books were removed from district libraries without a formal review based on arguments that they are “pervasively vulgar.” The books in question, which include, among others, Jesse Andrews’s Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, address issues that [...]
A Texas State Representative and 21 other members of the Texas House wrote an intimidating and misleading letter to every school district in the state in an attempt to censor books.
Thirty books have been removed from Prosper Independent School District libraries in Prosper, Texas, without following the district’s book challenge procedures.
When Jerry Craft's New Kid was banned from school libraries in Katy, Texas earlier this year for "pervasively vulgar" content, I defended his book and advocated against this inexplicable censorship. After that, school board meetings in Texas only intensified. After months of persistent demands for intellectual freedom being outnumbered by conservatives and drowned out by more book bans, we finally [...]
George M. Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue was removed from from libraries in Wicomico County Public Schools in Maryland, without review.
An assistant principal in Raymond, Mississippi, was terminated because he read the book, I Need A New Butt, to students at the school.
School districts are the most active battlefield in the American culture wars today. Teachers need our support; they need our trust; they need to have the freedom to exercise their professional judgment.
Schools in Yorktown Heights, New York, removed several books from library shelves after a challenge was filed but not yet reviewed.
Wentzville, Missouri, schools remove Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye after incorrectly labeling it obscene.
Arkansas school district removes "Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out" from school libraries against the recommendation of its own review committee.
Forsyth County Schools in Cumming, Georgia, removed numerous books from school libraries in violation of district regulations.
Schools in Granbury, Texas, removed 130 books from library shelves before reviewing a single one.
Polk County Public Schools in Florida removed sixteen library books before completing an official review.
A Tennessee school district has banned the teaching of Art Spiegelman's Pulitizer Prize-winning graphic novel, MAUS, in its eighth grade unit on the Holocaust.
School officials in Wayzata, Minnesota, recently removed Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison from the Wayzata High School library in violation of District regulations.
The National Coalition Against Censorship is concerned about the recent removal of two books from Texas's Llano County library: It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris; and In The Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak.
One of Texas's largest school districts removed hundreds of books for review, in violation of district policy, in response to a legislator's investigation of books in schools.
Illinois school district pressured to remove books from school libraries by violent alt-right gang Proud Boys.
An organized political attack on books in schools threatens the education of America’s children. NCAC and over 600 co-signers are deeply concerned about this sudden rise in censorship and its impact on education, the rights of students, and freedom of expression.
Keller Independent School District in Keller, TX, recently appeared to violate its own policies when it removed several books from school library shelves.
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the Board of Education of Pinellas County Schools in Largo, FL, to protest the recent removal of Gender Queer from school libraries shelves. This is the latest in a series of book removals across the country that ignore policy and best practice in removing books before a formal review takes place.
Fairfax County, Virginia, school district removed two books, Lawn Boy and Gender Queer, from school libraries after a parent complaint.
