The children's author Phil Bildner apparently has been disinvited from several schools in Round Rock Independent School District in Round Rock, Texas. He published this statement yesterday on the blog of ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom: Whenever I present to kids at my school visits, I always booktalk other authors’ books. It’s important for kids to know about the great stories that are out there. I always [...]
We received some great news from Kentucky this morning: a reconsideration committee in Marion County voted to keep John Green’s highly acclaimed first novel Looking for Alaska on its high school shelves last night. The book received a complaint from a parent who not only refused to let his child read the book, but determined it was "filth" and good [...]
One parent doesn't want any students -- or adults -- to read John Green's renowned young adult novel.
A Michigan school board voted last night to keep The Bluest Eye in its AP curriculum.
Parents in Michigan are very upset about a Toni Morrison novel being taught in an AP English class.
A school in Pennsylvania removed an award-winning novel in response to parent's complaints.
Another year, another challenge to Looking for Alaska. This time, a parent in conservative Marion County, Kentucky, is challenging its use in a 12th grade classroom.
NCAC welcomes the news that Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe has vetoed HB516, which would have required parental notification whenever "sexually explicit material" was being taught in the state's public schools.
An award-winning graphic novel was removed from high school libraries in Florida after the parent of a third-grader complained. The district thankfully reversed its decision.
Students are speaking out against legislation that would require parental notification of the teaching of "sexually explicit content" in public schools.
A bill that would require Virginia public schools to notify parents about 'sexually explicit content' should be vetoed by the governor, a coalition of literary and free speech groups argue.
Author Catherine Ross speaks to NCAC about schools and free speech: "In many communities across the country, the adults who would like to censor student expression are much louder and more influential that the adults who hope that schools will allow students to learn how to exercise their rights."
A Virginia bill that would require public schools to notify parents of "sexually explicit content" poses a profound threat to public education and First Amendment principles.
In Florida, a seemingly minor change to a policy regarding how schools handle book challenges could have far-reaching implications.
A Virginia school district's decision to ban a short video about affirmative action, along with the suggestion that it may ban other "racially divisive" material, raises serious First Amendment concerns.
A parent of an elementary school student complained about a graphic novel in the school library. Is that any reason to restrict the book in the same district's high school libraries?
Scholastic's decision to cease distribution of a controversial children's book raises some fundamental questions about free speech and self-censorship.
Two new bills are designed to empower ideologically-driven activists to shape what is taught in Florida's classrooms.
The reasons a private school in Pennsylvania offered for not teaching 'Huck Finn' are precisely the reasons it should be taught.
A parent in Etiwanda, California is complaining that a celebrated children's book about tolerance and diversity is not "appropriate" for a kindergarten classroom.
A conservative legal group's threat to sue a school over the planned reading of a book about a transgender child is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how the First Amendment applies to public schools.
Good news! The Couer d'Alene school board defended the freedom to read after a committee voted to reject Jhumpa Lahiri's novel for inclusion in a 12th grade English class.
An ad hoc committee in Idaho doesn't think high school seniors are ready to read The Namesake. The school board has an opportunity to reject this recommendation and protect the freedom to read.
A reconsideration review committee that met on December 3 decided in a 7-4 vote to retain copies of Gayle Foreman’s award-winning young adult novel Just One Day in Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan Public School libraries.
Parents of a middle school student were upset to find their child read the novel 'One Fine Day.' So they want it removed from four school libraries in the district.
One parent's complaint about a graphic novel has apparently led a school in North Carolina to remove it from the school library.
Two books targeted for removal from instruction at Rumson-Fair Haven High School have been retained.
For the second time in two months, a school has decided to remove Jonathan Safran Foer's highly regarded novel 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' from a class reading list.
An ad hoc committee in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, is again targeting a piece of literature for its language. Are they going too far?
A book fair won't carry a new Captain Underpants book, because one of the characters is gay.
What's happening in the Garden State? Right after Banned Books Week, we saw two efforts to remove books from public schools.
Congratulations to the students, parents, and teachers in Lumberton, New Jersey, who have proven that grassroots action makes a difference.
A New Jersey superintendent made an ad hoc decision to pull Looking for Alaska from classroom libraries, in violation of district policy.
NCAC responds to a newspaper editorial arguing that removing books from a school because they offend one parent is "common sense."
A petition calls for the removal of two books for sexual content and language, and also all other material that is not age-appropriate.
Responding to a complaint about a book assignment, a Tennessee charter school CEO explained that they had given students a heavily redacted version.
In the spirit of Banned Books Week, we bring you five stories from the field. A few of them will make shake your head, while the others will have you pumping your fist.
Four months after a parent launched a challenge against The Kite Runner in Asheville, NC, the saga seems to finally have come to an end.
Telling students to avoid books containing "wayward beliefs" implies we are incapable of thinking for ourselves. The removal did not give parents the freedom to parent, but instead attacked freedom of thought.
A Florida high school selected an award-winning novel for its school-wide summer reading list. But a few parents objected to some of the language in the book, and it was promptly pulled.
