Ellen Hopkins, author of numerous Young Adult titles as well as most recently, the Banned Books Week Manifesto is being censored in Norman, Oklahoma. Hopkins was scheduled to speak at Whittier Middle School on September 22nd about her experiences as an author writing about real life issues facing youth today. However, her talk was reportedly cancelled by the district's superintendent [...]
Kids' Right to Read Project Interview with Ellen Hopkins, author of the Banned Book Week Manifesto
Touch every book. Char every page. Burn every word to ash. Ideas are incombustible... The NCAC is excited to present the Banned Books Week 2009 Manifesto written by Ellen Hopkins, author of several verse novels on teenage struggles, including Crank, Burned, Impulse and most recently, Tricks. We here at the NCAC want to know what you are doing this year [...]
In April we reported on a book challenge after two parents called for the removal of Maureen Johnson's The Bermudez Triangle and Ceicly von Ziegesar's Gossip Girls: Only in Your Dreams from the Leesburg Public Library. In June, we were excited to offer an update full of good news. Yet somehow we are still holding our breath... On Monday the [...]
Voices Against Book Censorship interviews author, blogger Lee Wind
Letter to Leesburg City Commission Aug 21, 2009
The Brooklyn Public Library trusts you to form your own opinions about any controversial and provocative content that you would find in Beloved, Hard Candy or Mein Kampf. However, apparently they feel the need to protect you from racially insensitive material in the cartoon from almost 80 years ago TinTin Au Congo. The NYTimes today reports that [...]
The Effingham Helen Matthes Library Board in Effingham, Illinois voted unanimously to deny a request to censor Living Dead Girl, a novel by Elizabeth Scott. Local parent, Amy Hibdon formally requested that the book be removed from the library, or at least the teen section, after her 15-year-old daughter checked out the book and was reportedly upset by the content [...]
Being so busy with campaigns promoting “freedom and democracy” in the Middle East and central Asia, it’s hardly surprising that most of us here in the United States are unaware of an archaic and abominable practice that continues here at home - book banning. The Kids’ Right to Read Project (KRRP), a collaboration of NCAC and the American Booksellers Foundation [...]
Kids’ Right To Read’s Jamie Chosak interviewed Francesca Lia Block, author of many young adult novels, including Baby Be Bop, which the Milwaukee branch of the Christian Civil Liberties Union is currently calling for the right to publicly burn West Bend Public Library's copy. When asked about responding to challenges, FLB said: I keep writing. To me that is the [...]
In May, the Kids’ Right to Read Project reported on the censorship of Jayson Tirado’s poem, "Diary of an Abusive Stepfather", after Landis Intermediate School principal, Don Kohaut, literally ripped the poem out of the school's only copy of the nationally-acclaimed anthology, Paint Me Like I Am. One mother of a thirteen year-old student had raised concerns over the age-appropriateness [...]
The Kids' Right to Read Project Interviews Author, Chris Crutcher
The Kids’ Right To Read Project sent a letter today to the Chair of the Litchfield District’s School Board opposing the removal of several titles from Campbell High School’s upper-class elective “Love/Gender/Family” unit. KRRP also interviewed Andy Towne, a member of the Class of 2007 at Campbell High School after he authored an op-ed for The Nashua Telegraph about the [...]
On June 18, the Litchfield District School Board in New Hampshire decided to remove four short stories from the “Love/Gender/Family” unit of an upper-class elective English class at Campbell High School. The stories, including "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway, "Survivor Type" by Stephen King, "The Crack Cocaine Diet" by Laura Lippman, and "I Like Guys" by David Sedaris.
The Kids' Right To Read Project sent a letter today to the Leesburg Public Library Advisory Board applauding their decision to keep two challenged books on the shelves in the Young Adult section without labeling or restricting them in any way. We also urged the Board to uphold its decision during an appeals process. Libraries serve every member of the [...]
Kids’ Right to Read Project Director Jamie Chosak interviewed author Maureen Johnson about her experiences with censorship, including the recent challenge against her book, The Bermudez Triangle, in Leesburg, Florida. Here’s an excerpt: The Kids’ Right to Read Project: Challenges against The Bermudez Triangle have focused on ‘homosexual themes.’ Some commentators have identified this as an increasing trend. Would you [...]
Kids' Right to Read Project Interview with Author, Maureen Johnson
The Kids' Right to Read Project opposes the removal of Vibe magazine from Randolph High School's library in Randolph, WI after the school's principal, Tom Erdmann complained about the magazine's“gang violence/activity” and “gang symbols/materials.” Dr. Greg Peyer Superintendent Randolph School District 110 Meadowood Drive Randolph, WI 53956 [...]
Interview with Brent Hartinger, author of Geography Club.
Kids’ Right to Read’s Jamie Chosak interviewed the Founder of West Bend Parents for Free Speech, Maria Hanrahan about the book challenges in West Bend. Here’s an excerpt: Kids’ Right to Read: What actions did you and the West Bend community take in response to the challenges? Maria Hanrahan: In late March, the Maziarkas started circulating a petition that asked, [...]
Interview with Maria Hanrahan, founder of West Bend Parents for Free Speech
Yesterday, the Leesburg Library Advisory Board in Florida refused to move a couple of Young Adult books into the adult section of the library or give them advisory labels. Parents had drawn up a petition in April against the YA status of the books, Only in Your Dreams: A Gossip Girl Novel and The Bermudez Triangle. Mothers Dixie Fechtel and [...]
Mary Reilly-Kliss is a retired reading/language arts teacher, having spent 33 years working with young adults in grades 7-12. She was on the West Bend library board for 3 years. For the past year she served as co-secretary on the board. Mary also works at Fireside Books and Gifts, once part of the Little Professor chain, Fireside is an independent bookstore proudly serving West Bend for over 25 years.
In another case of challenged books from public libraries, a Wisconsin couple has petitioned for the reclassifying of several Young Adult books to Adult. Ginny Maziarka and her husband feel that books like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Geography Club, and Deal With It! a whole new approach to your body, brain and life as a gURL should [...]
The Kids' Right to Read Project opposed a challenge to Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar (Hachette) and The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson (Peguin) in the Leesburg, Florida Public Library in April 2009 after a parent objected to the sexual content and drug references in the books. KRRP sent this letter in response to the challenge.
The Kids' Right to Read Project sent the letter below to the school board and superintendent at Crook County Schools to oppose the ongoing ban on classroom use of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. After the superintendent removed the book in violation of district policy, a committee reviewed the book and voted to reinstate it. The book was returned to the library, but it remains suspended from classroom use while the superintendent, school board, and a committee review the district’s policies on instructional materials.
NCAC joined other free speech organizations in sending a letter urging members of the Topeka, Kansas, library board to restore The Joy of Sex and three other sex education books to public library shelves.
The Wyandotte, MI, School Board has banned The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad from classrooms and the library at Roosevelt High School while the book is reviewed by a reconsideration committee. One student's parents and her "spiritual mentor" object to violence and sexual content and asked that the book be removed in the fall. The book was being taught in honors English classes. It was removed from the library and placed in the superintendent's office earlier this month.
Cleburne ISD Superintendent Dr. Ronny Beard removed The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett from the Cleburne High School curriculum in Cleburne, TX, after parents complained about sexual content in the book. The Pillars of the Earth had been part of the senior honors English curriculum at Cleburne High since 1996. Parents complained after the book was assigned this past summer, even though the teacher offered an alternative assignment for those who objected to the book.
The Kids' Right to Read Project sent this letter to the superintendent and school board, opposing the book ban:
Night Talk by Elizabeth Cox was challenged in fall 2008 for its sexual content by one parent who requested that the book be removed from the library at South Gwinnett High School. A school-based committee denied the request in November 2008 and decided to keep the book in the library.
The Kids' Right to Read Project sent a letter to the System Review Committee and Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, opposing the challenges:
Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District Superintendent removed Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya from district high school classes after one parent objected to the book as “anti-Catholic.” The ACLU of Northern California and PEN American Center joined in sending a letter to the school board opposing the ban.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky was banned from ninth grade classrooms at Portage High School in Portage, IN, in late November 2008. The book was challenged by one parent who objected to sexual content in the novel, and the school board decided to remove the book from the curriculum. In response to an article published in the school newspaper, the Pow Wow, which reported on the review process for The Perks of Being a Wallflower, school administrators imposed a new policy requiring that all future newspaper content be subject to prior review. In December 2008, the Kids' Right to Read Project sent a letter to the school board and superintendent opposing the banning of the book and the new prior review policy for the newspaper.
School officials in Crook County, OR, removed The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie from ninth grade English classes at Crook County High School after one parent complained about a passage that discussed masturbation. The Kids' Right to Read Project sent a letter to the Crook County superintendent and school board, opposing the book's removal.
The Book of Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley was challenged by one parent who wants the book removed from the library at Central Linn High School in Brownsville, OR. The Kids' Right to Read Project sent a letter to the school board in support of keeping the book in the library.
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane was challenged for use in ninth grade English classes at Lincoln High School in Thief River Falls, MN. Some parents objected to sexual violence and graphic language in the book. NCAC and ABFFE wrote a letter to the school board, urging that the book be retained in the curriculum.
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya was banned from high school classes in Newman-Crows Landing (CA) Unified School District. NCAC and ABFFE sent a letter to the Modesto Bee:
NCAC and ABFFE sent this letter to the Editors of the Austin American-Statesman in response to the removal of TTYL from middle school libraries. Re: “Round Rock chief removes contested book from middle schools” (November 19) To the Editors: We strongly oppose the decision of Round Rock ISD Superintendent Dr. Jesús Chávez to remove TTYL by Lauren Myracle from district [...]
