Medina’s visit to Cumberland Middle school in rural Virginia to speak at a bullying awareness event was canceled after the principal refused to allow her to reference her book Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass (Candlewick, 2013) or show its cover, NCAC reports. “Though the book portrays the lived experience of bullying in a way that brings it home for teens, district superintendent Amy Giffin said they decided Medina and her book weren’t ‘appropriate’” for the rural area, NCAC reports.

In her own blog about the incident, Medina says, “I make absolutely NO APOLOGIES for the title of my book. The title is bold and troubling, and it suggests exactly what’s inside. Besides, we can fret all we want about the word ass, but that word isn’t the real trouble, is it?

“What’s hurting our kids is the savagery on their phones, and Facebook pages and in their classrooms,” Medina says. “That, and the reluctance of those around them to step up and do the tough work of pulling the issue out into the open and talking about what bullying really looks and sounds like and about its radioactive impact that lasts for years into the future.”

Meanwhile, Rowell was set to speak to kids at the Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota and at the Anoka County Public Libraries—but her invite there was rescinded after a parent’s complaint sparked a larger protest by a conservative action group who took their concerns to the county level, NCAC reports. The decision to cancel Rowell’s appearance was made over the objections of the county’s public and school librarians, who had been looking forward to an author visit ever since choosing Eleanor & Park (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2013) for its Rock the Read county-wide optional summer reading program. Many of the county’s teens had read the book during that program.

“These incidents go to show how far people are willing to go in expense of free speech to placate a vocal minority and keep them from being offended,” NCAC says. “At the heart of these cancellations lies the belief that we can clean up the world by erasing the parts some people dislike. The alternative is acknowledging those parts, dissecting their roots, asking how we can change them and facing them head on. That is what Medina and Rowell are interested in doing.

“To censor an author because she might use the word ‘ass’ (a banal swear) is to run away from the power of language. It is a missed opportunity for a lesson about how and why words affect us in different or greater ways….ignoring realities rather than confronting them, white-washing the world so it makes a prettier picture, is the antithesis of education.”

A selection of books challenged in Alabama public schools recently.

“The book is just completely objectionable, from language to the content,” Holtzclaw told Alabama Media Group’s AL.com news site on August 28. According to Holtzclaw, a constituent had queried him about the book’s inclusion on the Common Core reading list, and he has since brought the matter to the attention of State Superintendent Tommy Bice, AL.com reports.

Although Holtzclaw supports the implementation of Common Core in Alabama—surprisingly, against the wishes of the state’s Republican party, who recently introduced a bill calling for the standards’ complete repeal—Holtzclaw says he sees no value requiring students to read the novel, and that it should not be included on any required reading lists, AL.com reports.

School board member Betty Peters, who represents Alabama’s District 2, agrees. She calls the novel “pornographic” and “utterly inappropriate,” according to AL.com.

Support for Morrison
The Bluest Eye—which tells the story of 11-year-old Pecola Breedlove, who prays for her eyes to turn blue “so that she will be beautiful”—is listed by the American Library Association as the 15th most commonly banned or challenged book during the years 2000–2009 for its sexual content and, at times, graphic subject matter. However, the 43-year-old book has long been considered to be an important contribution to American fiction for its powerful themes and literary merit.

It was named an Oprah’s Book Club selection in 2000, and its author has been consistently praised for exploring similarly difficult themes in subsequent works. Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988 for Beloved (Knopf, 1987)—itself the 26th most challenged book in recent years—and she is also the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1993, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 2012.

As the situation continues to unfold against a backdrop of the start of a new school year and continued battles in the state over the Common Core, one local newspaper in Alabama, The Anniston Star, is taking a stand. Its editorial board has called out Holtzclaw for what it calls his misguided position, taking issue with both his admission that he had not read the book in its entirety (having only reviewed excerpts), and with what it sees as a mere attempt at political posturing.

“The fact that teachers are not required to adopt and teach The Bluest Eye seems to make little difference to the senator, any more than the fact that many of the ‘highly objectionable’ themes—racism, incest and child molestation—can be found in the Bible, the works of Shakespeare, Mark Twain, and Alabama’s most-loved novel, To Kill a Mockingbird,” the Star’s editorial reads.

“The education of our children is important…In a better world, parents would read the books their children are assigned and understand why those books are appropriate for what is being taught. The world would be even better if politicians would read the books instead of reviewing excerpts passed along to them for reasons that have little to do with education and a lot to do with politics.”

Challenges in Alabama
The Bluest Eye joins a motley crew of books challenged in recent years in Alabama’s schools and school libraries, according to a long-term study completed this summer by journalism students and reporters working at the Anniston Star. The list includes, but is not limited to Invisible by Pete Hautman (Simon & Schuster, 2005), White Oleander by Janet Fitch (Little, Brown, 1999), The Complete Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth by Sheila Kitzinger (Dorling Kindersley, 1980), Crazy Lady! by Jane Leslie Conly (HarperCollins, 1993), and The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks (Warner, 1996).

The statewide investigation was conceived of as an exercise in public document retrieval for newspaper interns pursuing masters’ degrees in community journalism at the University of Alabama, a Star news editor, Tim Lockette, tells School Library Journal.

At the Sanford Middle School in Lee County, Invisible, featuring a teen battling mental illness, was challenged in 2011 by a parent citing objectionable language.

Sanford school officials then asked two 12-year-old students to read Invisible and write down their thoughts, documents that were forwarded to the Star. “It was delightful to see kids getting involved,” says Lockette. Both students liked the book, he says, though “one of them said it wasn’t appropriate for his grade.” The school ultimately flagged Invisible for mature readers.

Parents objected to the presence of White Oleander, about a troubled girl shuttled through a series of foster homes, at Winterboro High School in Talladega, in 2006. At issue was the book’s sexual content and foul language. Students now need a parent’s permission to access the book.

The Complete Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth, in the library collection at the B. B. Comer Memorial High School in Talladega County, was reconsidered after a complaint over pornographic images and “explicit drawings of how to make love while pregnant,” records show.

Though one in eight children in Talladega County are born to teenage mothers, according to the Star’s own article about its challenged books study, the book was moved to a reference shelf in 2005. Students now need parental permission to check it out.

Challenged material also included two books in the “Chronicles of Vladimir Tod” series by Heather Brewer (Dutton), about an eighth grader whose father was a vampire, according to the Star.

The books were challenged by the caregiver of a student at the White Plains Middle School, located in Anniston, in 2010. While the objector stated concerns that the book could be harmful to students inclined toward violence, the titles remain on the shelves.

Other titles that parents found offensive include Hunted: A House of Night Novel by P. C. and Kristin Cast (St. Martins Griffin, 2009) in the Auburn City School system, and Dan Gutman’s Return of the Homework Machine (Simon & Schuster, 2009), at the Mountain Brook schools.

Though Auburn City did not initially disclose details on its challenge, officials later told the Star that a parent objected to Hunted’s profanity. After a review, it remains on the shelves. Gutman’s book, a story for 4th- to 6th-grade readers about a computer that completes homework, also was spared its challenge and remains on school shelves.

Though records of challenged books are technically public information, nearly one third of the schools contacted did not respond to reporters at all, according to Lockette. Other than the nine districts reporting challenges, 77 districts reported no challenges and 46 districts did not answer to repeated requests for records, he says. “I think people are scared of records requests, particularly the smaller districts,” says Lockette. “This is something they’ve never done before.”

The incompleteness of data is one possibly reason why student interns found no recent challenges to The Bluest Eye in their research, Lockette notes—not necessarily that is has not been challenged. It’s possible that the book, in previous years, was not on school library shelves, or it had been challenged only in one of the districts that didn’t respond to the Star’s request for records, he says.

“We see it all the time with public records,” he adds. “In states where there’s a strong public records law, there is an understanding that you have to comply with that law. Where people haven’t dealt with public records very much, there is bit of confusion or fear about releasing documents.”

Adds Leah Cayson, a student intern who worked on the project, “The law says that any citizen has the right” to see a public record. Thus, to withhold information was surprising.”

Involving the community
Fortunately, according to the Star’s research, “Most of these books didn’t get taken off the shelves,” Lockette says. “They remained in the libraries.”

“It’s not our idea to go in and judge the requests,” he adds. “It’s more to spark a conversation. These decisions are being made. The community is talking about books. It’s usually a good thing.”

As for The Bluest Eye, its fate remains to be seen. Will additional Alabama school board members call for its removal? Will Holtzclaw reconsider his position? Will the Alabama Department of Education come out explicitly in support of the Common Core and the novel’s inclusion in Alabama’s curriculum?

According to AL.com, the Alabama Department of Education was planning to respond to Holtzclaw’s request, although officials did not immediately reply to inquiries about the matter from School Library Journal. Also, SLJ’s requests for comment to the Senator’s office were not immediately returned.

However, Holtzclaw admitted to AL.com last week that his goal was not to ban books, but to ensure this particular novel would not be required reading of any student, noting, “There is a slippery slope, and there are folks that will find objectionable material in widely accepted classic American literature.”

Speaking at New York’s 92YTribeca on October 3, Lowry said her readers often asked whether Jonas, the 12-year-old protagonist in The Giver, ever saved Gabriel, the baby he attempts to rescue as he flees his community. The novel is about Jonas’s disillusionment with his utopian world and his struggles with its hypocrisy.

Although Lowry briefly alludes to Gabriel still being alive in her third book, Messenger (Houghton, 2004), the idea for Son was born when she decided to describe what became of him as he grew up. Then, during the writing process, she “became diverted by [her] own imagination and created a whole new character who became the center of the fourth book.”

Speaking with interviewers Anna Holmes, founder of the popular website Jezebel.com, and Lizzie Skurnick, author of Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading, and a columnist for Jezebel.com’s Fine Lines, Lowry explored the stories behind some of her best known titles, her fans’ reactions to The Giver, as well as book banning and censorship.

Lowry, who will talk about Son at a free SLJ webcast November 7, discussed some of the personal connections and the stories behind her well-known works. The image on the cover of The Giver, for example, is a photograph she took in 1977 of the painter Carl Nelson while she was writing a magazine article about him. Lowry later discovered that Nelson was blind during the last five years of his life, but used his memory of vibrant flowers and colors to continue enjoying to paint. Lowry compared Nelson to the title character of The Giver, an old man who holds the memories of the true pain and pleasures of life despite living in a rigid, circumscribed world.

Lowry also told the backstory of her Newbery-award winning novel Number the Stars (Houghton, 1989). Set in 1943 during the German Occupation of Denmark, the book centers around a young girl whose family is involved with the rescue of Danish Jews. After discovering that a close friend lived in Denmark during World War II and learning about how Danes involved with the Resistance were able to save almost all Danish Jews from concentration camps, Lowry was inspired to write the novel to share this courageous story with others.

In light of Banned Books Week, Lowry addressed censorship. Lowry is familiar with the issue because The Giver has often been challenged due to themes of euthanasia and suicide. She believes that calls for book removals are often rooted in good intentions. Much like the inhabitants of the safe, controlled society in The Giver, concerned parents just want to protect their children, she explains. However, according to Lowry, books are the best way to expose children to new and potentially frightening ideas.

Lauren Myracle

freedom to read. We caught up by email with bestselling author Lauren Myracle, who ranked number one on the American Library Association’s top 10 most frequently challenged books list in 2011 and 2009—and who also made the list in 2008 and 2007.

What does it mean to top ALA’s list of most challenged books–not once–but twice?

Well, it means I get a little bit of attention for a few days. I like that. I like attention! It also reminds me to do my best to stay on the top of my game. If I’m going to be an advocate for intellectual freedom which I sure try to be—then I better keep a close eye on myself. Where do I fall short? What ideas am I uncomfortable with? How do I deal with those ideas and the people who express them? +shrugs+ It’s tough. I am still a total work in progress.

Are you proud? Sad? Mad?

PROUD, for sure. “Mad” went away a long time ago. (I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck, you know. I’ve been on this list before.) “Sad”? Well…maybe a little, in the broad way that I am sad that we silly humans can’t get our acts together and sing in harmony. But I’m an eternal optimist. We’ll figure it out, and conversations about tough topics—like censorship—inevitably lead to growth.

This is your fourth time on the list in five years. Why’s it important that kids get to read books like yours?

Because they’re AWESOME. Can that be my answer? Okaaaay, fine. Because ideas don’t kill people. Guns do. Except maybe gun-totin’ mamas have a valid argument for strapping lady revolvers to their inner thighs. Only how will I know if I’m forbidden from reading the gun-totin’ mamas’ treatise: “How to Coordinate Your Pistol with Your Pumps”? Hmmm???? (Um. My books have nothing to do with guns. My brain just goes to weird places late at night…)

What is the most moving comment from a reader that you’ve received?

“I am a gay boy living in NC. If I hadn’t read yr book Shine (Amulet, 2011), I probably wldn’t be here today. Thx.”

Do book challenges have any effect on your writing?

Absolutely, and it’s a pain in the butt. I doubt myself all the time. I want to reach tween and teen readers, but to reach them, I often have to meet the approval of an adult parent/teacher/book buyer/etc. But I don’t care about the approval of those adults. Do I? What if what I write really *is* “wrong”? What if I try so hard to not censor myself that I go too far and fall over? What if I try so hard to not not censor myself that I teeter in my high-and-mighty heels and fall over in the other direction? WHAT IF I SUCK? It is a mind game, see? But for the record, I don’t wear heels. I am usually barefoot.

OK, an easy one. How do you feel about book banning and challenges?

Can my answer be “Awesome!” again? Kidding. I don’t feel awesome about book banning. I feel crappy about it. Censorship hurts readers (all readers) and hurts authors (especially those who have yet to develop a thick skin). As Chris Crutcher said, “When you ban a book, you ban a kid.” Uncool. On the plus side, the fact that we celebrate Banned Books Week every year *is* awesome, because it draws attention to the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power—and yes, the absolute and utter awesomeness—of literature.

Bill Moyers Joins ALA’s Banned Books Week Virtual Read Out.

As honorary co-chair of this year’s Banned Books Week, from September 30 to October 6, Moyers’s video, “The Bane of Banned Books,” talks about how he grew up in East Texas without any money for books, so he’d go to the small local library where he checked out his first books: Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days and a primer on Greek and Roman mythology.

Years later, when he entered the library as a freshman at a state college, Moyers says he was overwhelmed.

“I looked down at row after row of books and periodicals and thought, ‘Wow! All this for me?’” says Moyers, adding that he even considered majoring in library science just to be close to all those books. “Which is one reason it pains me to think that in this modern age, some folks and communities across America are saying, ‘No, that book isn’t for you.’”

ALA’s Virtual Read Out is an advocacy campaign that highlights the danger of censoring books in schools and libraries, and provides an opportunity for readers to demonstrate their support for the First Amendment by reading from their favorite banned or challenged books.

Joining Moyers in this year’s Virtual Read-Out are frequently challenged authors Dori Hillstad Butler, Stephen Chbosky, Sara Paretsky, Carmen Tafolla, and others. More than 800 videos were uploaded during last year’s Banned Books Week, including posts from authors Jay Asher, Judy Blume, Chris Crutcher, Whoopi Goldberg, and Lauren Myracle.

Be sure to mark your calendars for another Banned Books Week event: Moyers will discuss book censorship and Banned Books Week, along with other topics, in a “Live Chat with Bill Moyers” on Monday, October 1 at 3 p.m. EST. Join the chat with your class by leaving comments and questions on the site or via Twitter @BillMoyers.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week, an annual event sponsored by ALA, which recognizes the importance of the freedom to read. For more information about book challenges and bans in your area, or a listing of Banned Books Week events sponsored by libraries, bookstores and other groups across the county, visit the Banned Books Week website.

Corey Michael Dalton

30—writer and editor Corey Michael Dalton plans to mark Banned Books Week by camping out there to demonstrate the value of our freedom to read.

Dalton’s decision to spend 24/7 there until October 6—except for bathroom breaks—stems from the Vonnegut Library’s fight against Missouri’s Republic High School, which last year removed copies of Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five from the library and relocated them to a place only accessible by parents.

After Republic High School’s move to restrict the book, the Vonnegut Library offered to send free copies to any Republic High School student who requested one. To date, the library has mailed 75 copies.

“We thought this would be perfect for Banned Books Week,” says Dalton, the editor of U.S. Kids Magazine’s Jack and Jill, Turtle and Humpty Dumpty. “The book is locked up, and I would be locked up in the front window. It’s a symbolic thing that this is how the book is now allowed to live in the free world.”

Launched in 1982, Banned Books Week typically takes place the last week of September and highlights the importance of intellectual freedom, while also reminding readers how many books are removed regularly from school libraries and classrooms across the country.

Slaughterhouse Five, an anti-war story of a World War II soldier who travels through time after being abducted by aliens, was one of the Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books from 2000 to 2012, according to the American Library Association (ALA), which along with the American Booksellers Association, the  American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Freedom to Read Foundation, the National Coalition Against Censorship, and others, sponsor the event.

For those with the urge to check-up on Dalton, a webcam will be installed and viewable from the library’s main website, where he’ll also be blogging. Those who want to pop in and say hello will be able to catch some of the library’s other activities for the week, which will include an evening reading of banned books and Skype visits from authors Michael Dahle, Ben H, Winters, to filmmaker Michael Moore. While all the titles have yet to be decided, Julia Whitehead, the library’s executive director, promises “a wonderful passage from Slaughterhouse Five.”

But don’t expect Dalton to sit on his heels and read all week either. The editor isn’t taking vacation time for his public protest, and says he’ll be working on his magazines.

“They’re setting me up with a desk, laptop, and networking me into my computer at work,” he says. “The November/December issues are going to be on the wall, and staff is going to be bringing me pages to edit and approve that week.

Born in Indianapolis, IN, Vonnegut later moved away. But the library is located in his hometown. Since opening its doors in January 2011, it allows anyone to check out books—titles that are mostly classics and donated to the library.

Although the library isn’t city-funded, it offers WiFi and tours—all free to visitors who chose to visit the “laid-back” spot, Whitehead says. “We’re not going to hound people if they’re a few days late with their book. You just sign a notebook page and we take your contact information, and look at your driver’s license. We trust you’ll bring the book back, and we haven’t been burned.”