The groups underline that the First Amendment protects a student’s right to receive and possess literature, as long as the books in question do not cause disruption to the educational process.
NCAC is in the process of writing to the elementary school underlining that students have a First Amendment right to receive and possess literature, provided the books in question do not cause disruption to school activities.
The groups’ letter underlines that the hasty removal of the book, after a single complaint, sets a harmful precedent that could leave an entire curriculum in tatters.
As an organization committed to defending authors’ free expression and the right to read, NCAC was selected by HarperCollins employees to receive a donation as part of its #WhyIRead campaign, which pledges to donate $200,000 to charities supporting causes that are important to HarperCollins.
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and Lambda Legal are calling on a Tennessee high school to apologize for removing a displayed student artwork featuring the word “GAYDOM” and a rainbow motif. The groups demand the drawing be immediately restored, arguing that the school’s justification for the removal-- that some students were offended by the artwork-- violates the student artist’s First Amendment rights.
The notion that the mere presence of inappropriate language and allegedly suggestive images is justification for a book’s removal sets a harmful precedent that, for example, a classic work of literature that contains adult language, or an art history textbook that includes a nude, should also be kept away from teens.
The letter argues that choosing to remove a book citing "community standards" sets a dangerous precedent for future book challenges.
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and 6 other organizations committed to defending the right to read are urging a North Carolina school district to reinstate a children’s book in a 1st grade anti-bullying lesson plan after it was removed following pressure from local Republican lawmakers concerned about its gender-nonconforming themes.
The book, Jacob’s New Dress, was pulled after Republican lawmakers complained. For several month a group called Values Coalition has charged the district of using "indoctrinating" materials.
NCAC highlights that Stuck in the Middle is praised for its realistic, un-sanitized depiction of difficult situations that characterize the harder truths of teenage life.
NCAC’s letter to the school district reprimands the school for violating its own book challenge review process, and emphasizes the value of Rowell’s novel.
Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, and Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian were flagged for "explicit, graphic" content.
The Yamhill-Carlton School District in Western Oregon pulled the New York Times bestseller from a school lesson plan without following the school's review process for book challenges.
According to the bill, “no teacher may be prohibited from helping students understand, analyze, critique, or review in an objective scientific manner the strengths and weaknesses of scientific information.”
NCAC and other free speech groups write to the VA Board of Education in advance of a January 26th meeting to discuss the proposal.
The letter questions the bills breadth, which may end up flagging valuable works of literature that include sexual scenes.
The statement reprimands Representative Hunter, who removed the painting from the U.S, Capitol, for his disregard of the First Amendment.
In a follow up letter, NCAC stresses the district that banned TKAM/ Huck Finn needs an innocent-until-proven-guilty approach to book challenges.
Censorpedia currently contains over 1200 individual incidents collected over the years and contributed by students, NCAC staff and volunteers, artists and, potentially, YOU!
In his statement, the author of 'Bad Little Children’s Books' has asked ABRAMS not to print another edition of the book, because it has been so widely misunderstood and misconstrued.
The incident is particularly egregious because Accomack County Public Schools has already temporarily removed these universally acclaimed works.
NCAC has written in defense of Chbosky's oft-challenged novel, which Iowa parents claimed was 'obscene.'
NCAC's letter expresses concern that the "frightening images" stipulation is over broad and may end up excluding valuable literature.
A review committee has been convened to discuss the future of the book in the Dubuque Community school curriculum.
NCAC's letter underlines the mistake of conflating religious education with religious indoctrination.
The proposed regulation is the latest of several similar efforts NCAC has opposed in Virginia.
A post-election letter from NCAC’s Executive Director.
According to the Sullivan County Parents Against Islamic Indoctrination, their children's ignorance of Islam is preferred.
"Young readers need challenging books to help them become empathetic, caring, knowledgeable, thoughtful, and mature adults," Bertin and Davis state. "They’ll tell you that themselves, if you just ask them."
Oklahoma LGBT activists are calling into question a local library policy that limits the placement of LGBT-themed books to sections that hold books on sensitive topics such as drug use, incarceration and sexual abuse.
A daycare requirement to prevent young student's access to "frightening" materials may come at the cost of librarian's literary expertise in choosing student reading.
VOYA dismissed critics of its recommendation. But why are VOYA readers rightly concerned?
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.
With Banned Books Week on the horizon, PEN's report discusses NCAC's 'multipronged' approach to book challenges and the specific challenges censorship poses to diverse books.
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has today written to a Chesterfield, VA, school board in defense of books on a summer reading list that recently came under fire for containing "sexually explicit" material.
The bookstore owner was slammed for her "distinct lack of empathy for the experiences of people of color."
Renae Roscart, 15, considers parents who argued for the reading list removal to be "pretending that sexual assault and alcoholism isn’t something that youths encounter."
The Chesterfield County Public School summer reading list contained books that were "pornographic" and contained "vile, vile, nasty language," one mother complained.
What are the legal and educational responsibilities of school librarians in stocking their book shelves?
Kate Messner speaking event at South Burlington's Chamberlin Elementary School after the school discovered her latest book was about heroin addiction.
