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Date rape impacts a community; appropriate holiday decor; protesters at a Halloween event.
How much do authors’ reputations drive book challenges?
The kid likes one thing, the parent wants another. How should librarians proceed?
Semantics. Oh yeah! I said it! Today we look at the strangest of trends I’ve encountered in a while, but one that is of infinite interest to me. It is not necessarily new, but I find it far more insidious than plain old-fashioned book banning. We are familiar with people censoring, removing, or otherwise restricting […]
A look at the titles, data, a round up of recent related content, and more, as the literary world focuses the spotlight on censorship.
A frequently challenged book club pick; insisting on the Pledge of Allegiance
Damon, library support specialist at Denver Public Schools (DPS), and Torres, teacher librarian at DPS’s Montbello Campus, on Angie Thomas’s blockbuster YA novel and the upcoming film.
UK school librarian Lucas Maxwell's students at Glenthorne High School in London booktalk their favorite challenged titles.
Boyd discusses the connection between street lit and challenged books, while Winner describes the frequently challenged LGBTQ-themed picture books that he shares with his elementary students.
Try these projects and games with your students on Banned Websites Awareness Day (September 26), which seeks to raise awareness of overly restrictive filtering of educational websites and to explore the impact on intellectual freedom.
Promote the freedom to read with banned books bingo, trading cards, fiery displays, and more.
Recommending books to rising sixth graders sparks controversy
A South Carolina police union denounces local high school's summer reading list for featuring the acclaimed and best-selling books by Angie Thomas, Brendan Kiely, and Jason Reynolds, because of their "anti-police" message.
Over the last two years, challenges of LGBT books, displays, and programming have risen. During June, library staff handle even more challenges and complaints than usual.
Parent with Caldecott concerns, a librarian fears "Vincent and Theo" content issues (again), and an administrator who cracks down on students' rights: Pat Scales sets them straight.
The Oregon Battle of the Books is facing controversy because a book about a transgender child is on the reading list. Librarian Miranda Doyle calls on her colleagues to stand up to the critics.
School and public librarians struggle with how to handle the books of Bill Cosby, as well as authors Sherman Alexie, Jay Asher, and James Dashner, who have been accused of sexual harassment.
Awards, a grant opportunity, and the chance for students to ask Ken Burns about the Vietnam War.
A poem, deemed offensive, racist, and Islamophobic, was removed from an exhibit at the library at the Aurora (IL) Public Library.
The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 354 challenges to library, school and university materials and services in 2017, and Monday released its annual list of Top 10 Most Challenged Books.
In anticipation of the Top 10 Challenged Books for 2017 announcement on Monday, April 9, we've compiled the reviews of last year's most challenged titles.
The ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom will release the top 10 most Frequently Challenged Books from 2017 on Monday, April 9. While we wait, let's look back at those that made the list in years past.
School librarians find themselves in the middle of the debate about arming educators. They're sharing their concerns, which have implications in the national discussion about gun control and school violence.
CBLDF and the NCAC are publishing a free, downloadable comic by Kai Texel, just in time for National School Walkout on March 14 and the March for Our Lives on March 24.
One mother accuses a librarian of "stunting her daughter's intellectual growth," while another says lack of policing child's book choices gave her son nightmares.
Authors Jacqueline Woodson, Rachel Vail, and others spoke about the influence of Blume's novels during a birthday event at New York's Symphony Space.
Readers interested in adding to their professional reading collections will find plenty, from a volume on tapping into fandoms to an insightful work on encouraging children to read.
Shiloh’s curse words; a visiting author’s objectionable language; complaints about "A Day No Pigs Would Die"
The toolkit is a valuable resource for all libraries to help create or revise selection and reconsideration policy.
The Texas school district returned the book to high school libraries pending review.
Diversity Entitlement Vulnerable Fetus Transgender Evidence-Based Science-Based **** When The Teen was four years old, she became inexplicably sick. I will never forget when on the fifth or sixth day in a row we saw a new doctor and he said to my, “I think I know what she has. I need you to put […]
The Pat Scales Special Collections Room opened at the Carmichael Library on the campus of Scales's alma mater, the University of Montevallo in Montevallo, AL.
One parent doesn't want her "gifted" child reading picture books; another wants to be notified of each book read aloud in class.
As I mentioned yesterday, today’s episode is in honor of Banned Books Week. And let me tell you, it was hard to find an appropriate picture book without covering already well trod ground. In retrospect we should have held off on Heather Has Two Mommies until now and not jumped the gun back in the […]
Tomorrow I’ll be posting the latest episode of my blog with my sister Fuse 8 n’ Kate. In it, we’ll be reading a picture book challenged relatively recently somewhere in the continental U.S. To find such a book I consulted the American Library Association’s listings of Frequently Challenged Books. As I scrolled through the lists […]
Teacher librarian Kathy Burnette updates SLJ’s Banned Books Week Pinterest board with new, eye-catching, and inspiring ideas to kick off the annual celebration (September 24–30).
Librarians and educators have a new resource to oppose book banning in their communities.
A controversial student poetry reading; controlling bookmobile offerings; questioning 'James and the Giant Peach.'
Haven’t done one of these in a while. To be fair, there’s been so much crazy news out there that it’s almost too intimidating to do something as light and fluffy as this. Best if I stick with the news that matters. And, occasionally, the stuff I don’t remember seeing already on PW Children’s Bookshelf. […]
After passage of a new state law allowing citizens to challenge educational materials in their county, Florida school librarians are wondering what the process will mean for them come fall.
Yesterday was spent at the New England SCBWI Conference in Springfield, Mass. Today is being spent moving all my stuff across the street into my brand new home. As will tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after that. And the day . . . you get the picture. To combat this incessant […]
Religious-themed books in school libraries; informing patrons of privacy policies.
A teacher requests that students study art selectively; complaints about gay “Captain Underpants” content; objection to a teacher's book choices.
How should librarians present material that may upset some students?
Here's advice on student protest requests, close-minded parents, and more.
What do Abrams Books, Carve the Mark, The Continent, When We Was Fierce and more have in common? This year they were all challenged for having offensive and harmful representation of marginal people. Things exploded this weekend for Abrams Books. It’s being discussed all over Twitter and in the news, so I’m not going to […]
Many readers responded to our coverage of Banned Books Week. No self-censorship here!
Download SLJ's 2016 Controversial Books Survey report, exploring self-censorship among school librarians.
Twenty-nine books on ALA’s top 10 challenged books lists from 2001–2015 have diverse content.
What do revered authors Maya Angelou, Alison Bechdel, and Marjane Satrapi have in common?
SLJ's 2016 Controversial Books Survey, addressing self-censorship, asked school librarians: "When making purchasing decisions, do find yourself weighing the effect of controversial subject matter more often now than you did one or two years ago?" Here's what respondents who answered "yes" had to say.
Download this visual representation of key findings in SLJ's 2016 Controversial Books Survey of school librarians, exploring self-censorship.
SLJ's 2016 Controversial Books survey asked school librarians how they determined if a book is age-appropriate. Here's what they said.
School librarians mentioned these terms the most in their their answers to two questions in SLJ's 2016 survey, which explores self-censorship.
Jamie LaRue, director of ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom, responds to SLJ's survey and points to resources that help librarians create policies and field challenges.
Restricting books with controversial content is on the rise in school libraries, according to SLJ’s 2016 Controversial Books Survey, which explores self-censorship.
Our survey confirms impressions the NCAC and NCTE have gained from intervening in book censorship controversies around the county.
In SLJ's 2016 Controversial Books Survey, we asked school librarians to tell us about a book challenge they had personally experienced or to communicate other information about this topic. Here's what they said.
For educators looking for a multimedia approach to teaching about censorship as Banned Books Week nears, Westport Independent may be just the platform.
A parent objects when a first grader shares "Captain Underpants"; contending with parents who say their children are gifted.
Sharon Grover and Liz Hannegan consider whether listening to challenged books is a different experience than consuming in print
Training volunteer parents to hold opinions; requests to create a booklist about overweight adolescents and to remove books about suicide.
You may or may not have heard of the controversy surrounding Kate Messner’s book The Seventh Wish. If you haven’t, you can catch up with it on Kate’s blog. You should probably start with this post and work your way back. For those of you on a schedule, however, essentially Kate was uninvited (with less than […]
The award-winning graphic novel This One Summer has come under fire again, this time in Henning, MN.
The controversial teen novel by John Green came under heavy fire in one high school—but in a victory for "freedom to read," the merits of its use prevailed.
At “Who Are You To Say?”, an event held in New York City on April 16, authors and kid lit experts weighed in on where to draw the line between being aware and censoring.
The protests of one mom, who didn't want her son reading Toni Morrison's "Beloved," led to legislation that would require an "opt-out" option for assigned literature.
In response to a complaint from a parent of an elementary school student, three high school libraries in Florida have restricted access to the award-winning This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki.
Should libraries that already purchased books based on their starred reviews keep or withdraw them because of subsequent controversies?
I understand small moments of joy on a page, like a slave receiving a Christmas present, because I can place those stories into a broad landscape and see them as the exception, not the norm. You have to earn hopeful stories about horrifying events, and you can only see what hope means if the horrors lurking nearby are visible
This 'shocking and unprecedented case of self-censorship' was, in fact, an editorial decision. The publishing industry makes thousands of them every day. They happen in response to many factors, including outside pressure, personal bias, and money. This decision happened after many voices were raised opposing the book, led by Black Lives Matter activist Leslie Mac.
Withdrawing a book from circulation—which makes it disappear as effectively as burning—is a dangerous course. The book is gone. By the same logic, other books will also disappear, or never be written. But there’s another compelling cause for concern: Censorship often works against those who are the most marginalized—historically, women, minorities, and dissidents.
Despite complaints from a contingent of parents about a photo of a gun on the cover, the New York City Department of Education has no plans to remove Jason Reynolds's YA novel from lists of suggested reading material for seventh and eighth graders.
Pat Scales, School Library Journal's Scales on Censorship columnist, has been named this year's Distinguished Service Award recipient by the Association for Library Service to Children.
Censorship expert Pat Scales offers guidance on helping competitive readers find their own thing, balancing the responsibility to protect privacy, and orienting new teachers to the role of the library.
The 12th "Captain Underpants" novel will only be available to school kids in Monroe, MI, if they specifically order it. It is not in the school library or at book fairs.
Your clicks have spoken! The following are the top 10 pieces that ran in the SLJTeen newsletter this year.
After book challenges by a local parents group this summer, a southern Florida school district gives parents online access to see what their children are checking out of the media center.
In the library, adversity comes in many forms: a community persevering during unrest; a challenge to readers’ rights, and sometimes, in the form of bureaucracy.
The importance of providing student access to the library.
The 10th annual Eric Carle Honors Benefit Gala on September 24, celebrating children's book champions and including an art auction, was dedicated to the memory of Carle Museum cofounder Barbara Carle.
Perusing Debbie’s Reese’s provocative (to me, anyway!) and useful site American Indians in Children’s Literature, I came across a comment she made referencing and linking to the Texas State Library’s guide to weeding, CREW: A Weeding Manual for Modern Libraries (link goes to a pdf). Last revised in 2012 by my most respected colleague and […]
The post Beyond the Pluto Problem appeared first on The Horn Book.
Is there a correlation between the Common Core recommended reading lists and challenges to diverse books? Emily Knox, assistant professor at the University of Illinois, is planning a related study.
With the arrival of Banned Books Week, it's important to look for ways to dive deeper than “banning is bad” to prepare our kids to address intellectual freedom issues in an informed and principled way.
It’s Banned Books Week. Michelle Luhtala shares a crowd-sourced project that will help us promote censorship awareness as we pool our efforts to create a project with far and lasting reach. Michelle proposes that we work together and contribute to a Challenged Books Slide Show. She explain explains the back story: This project began when […]
From a costumed read-a-thon to a display with yellow "Caution!" tape, here's what librarians are planning for Banned Books Week 2015 (September 29 to October 3) and Banned Websites Awareness Day (September 30).
Teen winners of a Banned Books Essay Contest in Colorado Springs were recently announced. “Teen Librarian Toolbox” blogger Heather Booth was named 2015 Illinois Young Adult Librarian of the Year. Readers have the opportunity to win a copy of Ann Jacobus’s Romancing the Dark in the City of Light.
I am excited about tomorrow’s Emerging Tech webinar hosted by Michelle Luhtala and featuring Doug Johnson. Please consider joining us in this interactive conversation. Here are the details: Wednesday, Sep. 16 at 5 p.m. Eastern Time It’s Blocked! How Internet Filters Impact K-12 Learning Presented by Doug Johnson, blogger and author; Dr. Joyce Valenza, Director of […]
Looking for inspiration in advance of Banned Books Week (BBW), from September 27–October 3? Look no further than SLJ's BBW Pinterest page, curated by blogger and collection development librarian Molly Wetta.
Ted Dawe's award-winning YA novel Into the River, about a Maori boy at a boarding school, is the first book to be banned in New Zealand in 22 years.
The Charleston Public Library in South Carolina gave 1,000 copies of Courtney Summers's Some Girls Are to teens after a high school removed the book from its summer reading list.
We talk a lot in this field (and on this blog, I guess) about censorship. And most of the time we use the term loosely, describing those who challenge a book’s distribution by a library, for example, as “censors.” I’ve always found the term in this context alarmist–it’s not the challengers who are censors, the censor is […]
The post THIS, my dears, is censorship. appeared first on The Horn Book.
AASL’s Banned Websites Awareness Day is coming up on September 30th. Many thanks to the AASL Banned Websites Awareness Committee for this important guest post. Please spread the word as well as these critical IF resources with your school communities. It’s happened to all of us– we’re at school trying to access the perfect website […]
Censorship expert Pat Scales tackles the trouble with trigger warnings, the finesse of Banned Books Week planning, and the problem with narrowing options for reading.
While most librarians are familiar with the issues around intellectual freedom and a student’s right to read, what about their colleagues? Enter the American Library Association, which is offering two digital lessons to help librarians broach the topic of censorship with colleagues.
A recent Harris poll on attitudes about book banning and school libraries revealed that out of the 2,244 U.S. adults surveyed in March 2015, the percentage who felt that certain books should be banned increased by more than half since the last similar study conducted in 2011.
Launched by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the Comics Connector features a growing list of comics professionals state by state, as well as in Canada, along with their contact information.
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