To advocate on behalf of those who cannot speak, sometimes it's necessary to understand what it feels like to be silenced. Judy Blume is a living testament to this very truth, and, for that, we salute her today, on her birthday.
A recent article by Meghan Cox Gurdon in the Wall Street Journal argues that the grim, gory, and dark shadow cast over the genre of young adult literature is inappropriate for its target readers. This controversial review exposes the fear of many parents who worry about children’s exposure to realities believed to be too mature. Cox Gurdon suggests that free [...]
NewSouth Books, based in Alabama, is publishing a new edition of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. As many know, Mr. Twain has been very much in the news lately. His Autobiography is a current bestseller (NYTimes bestseller list for 10 weeks now) and is earning well-deserved praise. Regrettably, now we must add another reason [...]
Suzanne Collins's young adult novel The Hunger Games is challenged in New Hampshire by a parent whose 11-year old said the book gave her nightmares. The parent has yet to file a formal complaint or read the book. Regardless, the Superintendent is gathering a committee to review the book while it remains in the classroom. A Texas school district in [...]
An invitation to young adult novelist Ellen Hopkins to speak about her experiences as a writer was rescinded by the Superintendent of the Humble (Texas) Independent School District after some parents complained about the content of her books. NCAC coordinated a letter of protest with five other national organizations. After Hopkins was disinvited to Teen Lit Fest 2011, five other [...]
The word “fuck” has caused quite a stir in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Its appearance - 45 times, according to parent and avid swear-word-counter, Kelli Smith - in young adult novel Shooting Star by Fredrick McKissack Jr. is reason enough for one parent to remove the book from school district libraries. Grudgingly, the Broken Arrow Board of Education will keep the [...]
Kids’ Right To Read’s Jaime Chosak interviewed Brent Hartinger, author of the young adult novel Geography Club. Parents recently asked for the removal of the book from shelves in the West Bend Public Library in Wisconsin. Kids Right to Read Project: What was your motivation for writing Geography Club? Brent Hartinger: You know, it’s partly because the story is semi-autobiographical [...]
FOX News ran a national broadcast today about the Leesburg, Florida controversy over the Gossip Girl series of books in a public library. The segment, Unfit to Print?, features Dixie Fechtel and Dianne Venetta, the two mothers who brought their complaints before the Library Board, had them rejected, and are now petitioning the City Commission to have the [...]
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 [...]
No. As The Birmingham News reports: According to the ALA's office for intellectual freedom, there were 420 documented attempts to ban books from libraries nationwide last year, and up to four times as many unreported attempts". What gets banned? "Topping the list typically are novels written for young adults, and fantasy books such as the Harry Potter series. The Potter [...]
