Children's Books discussion
Banned Books: discussions, lists
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Discussion of censorship, equity, and other concerns.
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Keep Moms for Liberty NAZIS out of Canada! These vile specimens should not even be allowed into our country.
Manybooks wrote: "https://tnc.news/2022/05/17/levy-us-f...Keep Moms for Liberty NAZIS out of Canada! These vile specimens should not even be allowed int..."
This woman's mind is so warped!
"She said she has come to know the lengths activists are going in Canada to spread gender ideology after connecting with Chris Elston – known on Twitter as @BillboardChris – a dad in British Columbia who has been avidly trying to expose the harms of gender indoctrination.
Justice called Elston a “national treasure”
(excuse me while I throw up)
"“I don’t know if (Canadian) parents have any rights to their children anymore,” she said. “And it doesn’t seem that any of your media is covering any of the harms of gender ideology and gender indoctrination."
That's because Canadians have so far been far more sensible and don't let right-wing Christian agenda dictate public policy. Gender is not a big deal and the media knows it. The media needs to stop giving coverage to these blowhards because it spreads their message and gives them power.
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Keep Moms for Liberty NAZIS out of Canada! These vile specimens should not e..."
I want ALL members of Moms for Liberty, ALL their supporters (including politicians) banned from entering Canada for ANY reason whatsoever.
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Keep Moms for Liberty NAZIS out of Canada! These vile specimens should not e..."
Chris Elston is not a treasure but a disgusting DISGRACE.
I hate hate hate how US Nazism is crossing the border and infecting the weak minded.
More disturbing news.In Saline County, Arkansas where dueling billboards take center stage, the extremists are coming for the library regardless of the Library Bill of Rights and Librarian Code or Ethics or the fact this is a public library! Parental rights don't apply to public libraries. You either check books out for your kids or you don't. You either let your kid go to storytime and activities or you don't. It's that simple!
"Library Director Patty Hector‘s name was mud at the Saline County Courthouse Monday night, as the county judge, Quorum Court members and a roster of riled Republicans condemned her ongoing refusal to remove books from the young people’s section.
Justice of the Peace Josh Curtis introduced an ordinance to give the county judge power to hire and fire library staff, set librarians’ salaries and exert more control over the library system’s budget. The Quorum Court is scheduled to vote on that ordinance on June 19.
Hector defended her decision, saying that moving books to hard-to-access spots is equivalent to censorship. County officials do not have the power to dictate what books can be on library shelves, she’s said.
Brumley said Monday he objected to Hector’s refusal to go along with the April resolution and to her statements to the media and at board meetings about why she made the decision to not comply.
“It has been said time and time again, three times at the board meeting, that moving books is the same as banning books. That is false,” Brumley said.
Supporters of clamping down on library content seemed to be really freaked out about the sexual experimentation teens may get up to that are sometimes captured in print. One woman objected to a graphic novel in the youth section that mentioned butt plugs. A number of speakers classified books with sexual content as pornography. One man criticized Hector for not looking people in the eye at previous meetings and said she should be more receptive to taxpayers’ requests.
Three speakers objected to the idea of having to read an entire book before they could challenge it. I only need one bite of pie to know whether it’s made of chocolate or manure, Richard Mills said.
Before the meeting was over, Quorum Court members had all but christened Jamie Clemmer, husband of former state Rep. Ann Clemmer (R-Benton), as a new Saline County Library Board member, replacing current Chair Caroline Robinson. Clemmer’s appointment will have to go up for a vote at a full Quorum Court meeting.
The only Quorum Court members who weighed in on the library Monday defended chucking books from the young people’s section and seemed to embrace a change to a county ordinance to give the county judge, not the library board, the power to hire and fire all library staff. It’s not looking good for Patty Hector.
While she was clearly not keen on the April county-level resolution, Hector has said both Saline library locations were already in compliance with Arkansas’s Act 372 months before its Aug. 1 start date.
The divisive new law dictates the process by which children’s books and other content can be challenged should someone find them objectionable. It makes librarians criminally liable should they knowingly allow young people to access harmful materials, and could send them to jail for up to a year. Act 372 sets up locally elected bodies to be the arbiters of what belongs on library shelves.
The Saline County Republican Women are up in arms about “explicit and woke books” in the children’s area of the county’s library. They argue that these books have “no plot,” “indoctrinate children” and “normalize deviant behavior.”
The books:
Bathe the Cat
The family has two dads, which are depicted in some wholesome drawings on their refrigerator, held up by a pride and trans magnet.
Leo's Lavender Skirt
Leo finds the confidence to wear his skirt to school and explains that he will simply tell people he is a boy if someone thinks he’s a girl.
There’s no mention of trans ideas or gay couples anywhere in this book. There’s no sexually explicit content or mention of love. Leo just likes to wear his skirt.
Worm Loves Worm
They decide that they both can be the bride, or they can both be the groom. Because... worms... both male and female!
The Talk
The TALK moms have with their Black sons because racism and police brutality are real.
https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/20...
In Utah, they fail to see the ridiculousness of the book ban law, preferring instead to shove their Bible down everyone's throats in spite of claiming they want to keep kids safe from obscenity and violence. And also missing a whole lot of education, laws and ethics rules about librarians, educators, libraries and people who are trained to work with children.___________________________________
“If folks are outraged about the Bible being banned, they should be outraged about all the books that are being censored,” Kasey Meehan, who directs the Freedom to Read program at the writers’ organization PEN America, said last week.
Utah Parents United President Nichole Mason said she worried the spotlight the Bible ban turned on Utah distracted from conversations about obscene materials that remain in school libraries. Defending Utah’s sensitive materials law, Mason noted that the committee determined the Bible didn’t qualify as pornographic under state statute. She doubled down on her stance that Utah should give parents more say in what’s in their kids’ schools.
“God Bless America that we can challenge any book out there!” Mason said.
State Rep. Ken Ivory, the sensitive materials law’s Republican sponsor, rebuffed the idea that his law paved the way for the Bible to be banned. Though he defended the review process after the sacred text's removal, he said on Wednesday that the Davis School District had overstepped its role by removing the Bible from middle and elementary schools because of criteria not in state law.
He said criticism of the review process that led to the banning of the Bible didn't relinquish the need for oversight from parents and administrators about materials in schools.
“Should we have age appropriate limits for children in school? Almost universally anyone of good faith says ‘Yes.’ The question is then: What should those limits be?” he said.
Ivory urged the Legislature to change the law so book removal decisions have to be overseen by elected officials at open public meetings, not the kind of committee that decided to remove the Bible from middle and elementary schools in the Davis School District.
https://news.yahoo.com/utah-republica...
That so-called teacher and book expert (because you know she has a Masters' degree) Vicki Baggett is going after books in a county she doesn't teach in because THE LAW says that's what you can do.________________________________________________________________
Monday, she spoke in front of Santa Rosa County commissioners, asking for a resolution to encourage immediate action.
She says the Santa Rosa County School District's library head told her there were no inappropriate books. Baggett disputed it.
(view spoiler)
Commission Chairman Colten Wright said the school district is an independent board that commissioners do not control.
"It is always a priority of Santa Rosa County District Schools to be in compliance with legislative mandates. In reference to recent legislation surrounding Parental Rights in Education, the district has a form on our website where parents can select their child’s library access level. If parents want to go in and limit their child’s access or prefer their child have no access at all, they can make that selection.
In alignment with our district’s instructional material grievance procedure, any citizen may file a complaint with a school concerning the use of instructional materials, which includes library books. Currently, if a book is being reconsidered, that book shall not be removed from use until the procedures have been completed.
The reconsideration process begins at the individual school level. The complainant should first contact the teacher or library media specialist at the school site with their complaint. It’s the district’s hope that nearly all challenges can be addressed at the librarian or teacher level. If not, then the process moves to the next step where the complainant speaks with the principal or appropriate staff about their concern. The principal is supposed to explain how materials are selected and the role of the material in curriculum. School material review committees are the final school-level review of books before the complaint goes to the district.
After that, if a complaint is not satisfied or resolved, the complainant can file a formal complaint with the district, and it will be reviewed by a district materials review committee.
School Board Policy 4.22 will be presented to the Board at the next School Board meeting, June 15, to ensure compliance with the Governor’s recently signed HB1069, that takes effect July 1.
We want parents to trust the things the district has done to comply with parental rights education.
https://weartv.com/news/local/escambi...
The good news in Florida is that book people are working to get books in the hands of readers.The mission of one Tampa Bay used bookstore has always been to rescue books that are getting thrown away, but now The Book Rescuer is adding access to all books in their original form to its mission.
“We actually take the approach of any book that's ever been challenged or banned, tried to remove from people's access, and we want to highlight those books and get them into more people's hands,” explained The Book Rescuer co-owner George Brooks.
He runs the store with his wife, Sarah, out of a warehouse in St. Petersburg now with 100,000 books. They’ve had a small bookshelf for banned books since they opened this location in November, but Brooks said it wasn’t until he posted a few pictures on Facebook last week that the storm of support for the challenged content started.
“We've actually already sold out an entire row of this,” the couple showed ABC Action News just days after the post.
https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/re...
Amanda Gorman denounces book bans"“What that underscores for me is with how the structure works around schools and libraries with laws that have been passed: All it takes is one person or one quickly written complaint to render that book inaccessible for everyone else in that community.”
“I’m fine with some parents not liking my poetry — that’s completely in their right,” Gorman told “CBS Mornings” co-hosts Gayle King, Vladimir Duthiers, Nate Burleson and Tony Dokoupil.
“But when we get to the situation where that one’s person dislike of my work leads to everyone else not having access to that, that is a huge issue I think because it encroaches on our freedom to really absorb, and love, and enjoy literature from where we are,” she said.
“When I wrote ‘The Hill We Climb,’ it was so important for me that young people would see themselves represented in a significant moment in our democratic history,” Gorman said, “and that the reality of that and that moment would be erased for young people who deserve to see themselves at a place, station like that — that was just really disappointing.”
Gorman noted research that showed the majority of book bans involve “characters of color or talk about race in some way” along with figures “that are of the LGBTQ community or touch upon those themes.”
“I have to think about what messaging that sends to young readers. It’s as if you’re saying, ‘You are inappropriate if you’re African American. You are inappropriate if you are gay. You are inappropriate if you are an immigrant.’”
“There’s this huge argument that it’s about protecting and sheltering our children from themes that are just too advanced from them,” Gorman continued. “But when you look at the majority of the books, that have actually been banned, it’s more about creating a bookshelf that doesn’t represent the diverse facets of America.”
https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know...
Another library, this time Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, faces losing funding for failure to remove certain books."Trustees denied the Menomonee Falls Public Library is in danger. But a recent $250,000 funding cut to the library’s budget, the ousting of three library board members and comment that Menomonee Falls residents are "affluent and can buy their own books," paint a different picture.
That statement was made by Brad Jubber, the village board representative on the library board.
Jubber told Amy Schlotthauer, president of the Menomonee Falls Library Board of Trustees, the village board would be requesting a book audit, and he planned to submit a request for reconsideration for "concerning teen LGBTQ+ titles on behalf of residents who may be hesitant to share their names and addresses that the form requests."
"He also indicated that at least three Village Board Trustees are already planning on not funding Menomonee Falls Public Library in the future.
"This is VERY concerning to me, and also good information to have so that we can be thoughtful of what types of data and information we need to demonstrate the value of the library to our community," Schlotthauer said in her email to board members.
During Monday’s Village Board meeting, Jubber said his comments were "taken out of proportion."
https://www.wpr.org/menomonee-falls-r...
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I am assuming that Vicki Baguette (I guess I will leave the spelling gaffe as I find it quite funny to name Vicki after a long and pointy French bread) has a master's degree in ignorance and stupidity.
Bad news, good news. States vs. fed.Florida rules create confusion and chaos
"iPrep Academy in downtown Miami was established to close the digital and cultural divide and ensure every child had access to technology. Founded by former Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, ... initially everything was digital. And the model worked. [T]his school year that a group of parents agreed it would be good for students, particularly young children, to have a space to gather and experience books away from another screen. By October, a group of parents, including Elizabeth Casal, had built shelves for the school’s new media center. It was planned to display around 500 but at the end of the year, the shelves are empty supposedly because media specialist and iPrep staff need to ensure the books align with the appropriate grade level — elementary, middle or high — before placing the books on the shelves. Moreover, the media specialist was just recently awarded full certification.
Brooke Sussman, a parent of two in the district, including one at iPrep, was confused when she received a consent form for the Scholastic Book Fair last month. The consent form to attend the popup book store inside the school included a provision to hold the district harmless should their child return home with a book they didn’t approve of. “My first thought was disappointment. Not for my child, but for this community,” Sussman said. For many families, a financial barrier for participation already exists, she said. “With the addition of a permission slip, I think some families will miss it and others will think maybe there is something I should be concerned about and choose not to sign it.
revious fairs had already occurred this school year without requiring parental consent for participation, parents said. However, the forms were distributed because the list of books sent to each school is not always made available prior to the fair, staff said. Nevertheless, the consent form “was kind of bringing political rhetoric in [the school] and making it real for the first time,” said Casal. Teachers, too, are facing new protocols for determining what can or can’t be used in their classrooms — a move some argue is the result of misinformed decisions made by lawmakers. Ramon Veunes, a teacher at Dr. Rolando Espinosa K-8 Center in Doral, said after the new laws went into place, he was told that any book outside of the district’s curriculum would require a more tedious approval process, regardless if a teacher already had it in class, such as a vocabulary book he’s used for years that he said correlated with state standards. “We are professionals and we’re the most qualified in determining what to teach our students,” he said. When these laws are passed, teachers’ professional opinions are often not solicited, he said, and in some cases, this can “enable a single parent to affect what an entire school learns or doesn’t learn.” Veunes said he will abide by the law, but argued it is “cumbersome and makes our job harder, [and] is wrongheaded.”
Karla Hernandez-Mats, president of United Teachers of Dade, told the Herald she instructed her members not to comply with the request [to go through their bookshelves and evaluate all the books for "age appropriateness". The process, she said, highlights what she argues is an attack on public education and underscores the confusion many teachers are facing amid vaguely-written laws. If a teacher is unsure if a title is acceptable, many may opt to remove it from their shelves to avoid any trouble later on, she said.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/loca...
Scary news from Texas"LLANO, Texas — A federal appeals judge said Wednesday that if two particular young adult books “don’t meet the definition of p____hy, I don’t know what does,” before clarifying he meant “obscenity” during a hearing over the removal of certain books from a Central Texas public library.
Lawn Boy
Gender Queer: A Memoir
The nearly hourlong hearing Wednesday marked the latest turn in a saga that first began almost two years ago with the removal of 17 books, including one for teens that calls the Ku Klux Klan a terrorist group, Isabel Wilkerson’s “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” and a comedic children’s book from Dawn McMillan’s “I Need a New Butt!” series.
Jonathan Mitchell, who is representing the sued county officials and is also the architect of the state’s prohibition on abortions, argued the district judge’s ruling should be overturned for multiple reasons, including that the removed books are available to be checked out through the library’s in-house system and that the plaintiffs are not suffering irreparable injury because the books are available. Further, Mitchell said the librarian who had removed books did not do so with viewpoint discrimination.
“The plaintiffs, to be sure, would prefer for the books to be returned to the library shelves. But the First Amendment does not give library patrons a right to demand that books be stored in a particular location in the library, so long as the books remain available to the plaintiffs who are suing,” Mitchell said. “As long as the plaintiffs remain capable of accessing and obtaining each of these 17 books, and no one disputes that they are, they cannot possibly show that there is an ongoing violation of their constitutional rights.”
Katherine Chiarello, one of the lawyers representing the library patrons, focused on the motivation of the librarian who removed the books, arguing that the district judge found the defendants’ removal of the 17 books originated from officials in Llano County disliking the ideas contained in them, which is unconstitutional.
The defendants argue that the books were removed during a regular process of checking library shelves, a process called weeding. Further, they say the books are available upon request.
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/....
Don't know if this will do any good but, Biden administration to appoint anti-book ban coordinator as part of new LGBTQ protections
"The yet-to-be-named Education Department coordinator will train school districts and advise them that banning books "may violate federal civil laws if they create a hostile environment for students," said White House domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden. "
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-an...
As usual, librarians, libraries, students, scholars and people who actually READ are fighting against the you know whos, other ignorant parents and nasty politicians who want to control everyone else's thoughts. And yes, people ARE calling them out as Fascists, which they deny because they probably have no idea what a fascist is - because they don't read books! Read on for today's news
In California, Temecula Valley school board members rejected a social studies curriculum merely because of a mention of Harvey Milk, who was gay and a Pride activist. This story was featured in the teacher's manual NOT in the student textbook! A school board member, Danny Gonzales, actually out loud called Harvey Milk the "p" word in spite of no evidence to the contrary and Harvey Milk was killed so he can't speak for himself.
The story:
Temecula Valley teachers and their supporters are rallying the community to give their input on the new textbooks ahead of next week's school board meeting. They say without approval, students could be left without textbooks and the school district would be in violation of the Williams Act.
"This could cost the district over $4 million because they don't want a gay man mentioned in the teacher's manual of supplemental reading material," parent Gia Rueda said.
Gonzales claims to be working g with state education officials on finding the necessary textbooks.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta and Gov. Newsom are demanding answers.
"California is closely watching the actions of malicious actors seeking to ban books, whitewash history, and demonize the LGBTQ+ community in Temecula and across the state," Newsom said in a statement. "If the law is violated, there will be repercussions."
https://abc7.com/temecula-valley-unif...
The you know who ladies challenged 189 books in Wake County, North Carolina this week alone! The challenges were rejected because the challengers do not have children in the district. The would-be-censors are working to try to change the laws so that any old person can challenge a book. What a waste of time and resources when librarians could be teaching digital literacy, research, helping match readers with books and books with readers, choosing new books and equipment for next year, working on lesson plans, etc.https://www.newsobserver.com/news/loc...
Woohoo for the in Orono Maine Public Library. They started a banned books club for teens in 8th grade through high school.Lindsay Varnum, the youth services librarian in Orono, says it shouldn't be controversial for kids to learn about people who are different from them.
https://wgme.com/news/local/maine-lib...
In Missouri, libraries are trying to do their jobs but the governor's rule is making it difficult. Rural systems will be hit the hardest with loss in state aid and having to revise policies. Policies affected the the numbers of minors who have library cards.News story:
"The St. Louis Public Library system has had collection policies, which explain how a library chooses books and other materials, in place since the 1800s." They do not, not have they ever, offered obscene material to anyone.
The state rule introduced by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft would block state funding for libraries if they allow minors to access books that are p___ic or labeled as obscene under state statutes. It requires written collection policies and a way for a parent or guardian to challenge the age appropriateness of materials or a program.
The rule, which went into effect May 30, is a “solution in search of a problem,” Library director Waller McGuire said. “Kids are lucky to be in libraries rather than in danger from them.”
McGuire’s viewpoint was echoed by several local library directors, who also expressed confusion over the need to assure Ashcroft’s office by July 31 that they are doing what their jobs typically entail: offering children’s materials, sorted by ages, and allowing parents control over what their offspring check out.
But because most libraries already do what Ashcroft demands, directors don’t discount a connection to recent censorship efforts centered on LGBTQ materials, worrying that culture warriors now have a new weapon.
For the St. Louis County Library system, whose budget of $60 million is the biggest in the area, state funds contribute less than 1%. Most of the library’s revenue comes from county residents’ property taxes.
Last year, Ashcroft, who is running for governor in 2024, sought public feedback on his proposal to refuse state money to libraries that don’t have policies protecting children from so-called obscene material. Any libraries that don’t already have written policies are likely to be rural locations with small staffs.
About 20,000 residents provided feedback to the proposal, with the majority criticizing it. But Ashcroft enacted a softened version of the first proposal and on June 2 posted on Twitter: “Parents should know their children are in a safe environment in our public libraries. These new rules will make sure kids aren’t exposed to obscene materials.”
The St. Louis County system, like others, is still working on tweaking some policies and getting approval from its board of trustees. They have no plans to move any books.
The new rule, ironically, may mean fewer juveniles have library cards — a result that is the opposite of what libraries want.
The county library currently requires parental signatures when children younger than 13 apply for a library card. The city system seeks parents’ signatures for those younger than 16.
At the time of sign-up, city parents could check boxes saying their children do not have permission to check out adult materials or to use computers. McGuire estimates that less than 5% of children have cards limiting their access to computers or adult materials. The county and city libraries now share a catalog, so they are collaborating on any new policies.
But other systems have no way to monitor or limit access for cardholders younger than 18. “It’s all or nothing access,” says Tony Benningfield, director of the Jefferson County Library.
“Our integrated library system can’t handle what Ashcroft is asking for” regarding limiting checkouts by age or title. The Jefferson County system has four libraries, with administrative offices in High Ridge. Its budget of about $5.5 million includes about $250,000 from the state.
The hassles with puzzling out the secretary of state’s requirements and tweaking policies has already cost the Jefferson County Library more than the $500 Ashcroft’s office estimated for the new rule, Benningfield said. This despite the fact that the library already has 18 pages of collection development policies on its website among more than three dozen other explanations of procedures and guidelines.
The policies, like many other libraries’, already make it clear libraries don’t want to overrule parents: Many libraries note they cannot act in loco parentis, or stand in for a parent. Rather than urging children to browse unattended, libraries are more likely to have policies requiring supervision for children. All library directors queried also already have a process for patrons to challenge books.
The Ashcroft rule is confusing and is causing headaches, Benningfield admits: “There are so many more productive things I could be doing.”
Another new requirement for libraries is to attach age levels even to meeting room bookings made by private patrons. Libraries already label their own programs by age.
Scott Bonner, director of the Ferguson Municipal Public Library, is afraid that even if books don’t meet the Supreme Court definition of “obscene” that the library will see more challenges because of the Ashcroft rule.
A parent of a juvenile may not agree with professional librarians regarding what is appropriate.
Bonner said that even if librarians and a library board confirm a book is appropriate, the Ashcroft rule might “give them a path to appeal to the Secretary of State’s office or use the language of the SoS rule to sue in court.”
He said: “The rule is not about making libraries shelve materials in appropriate areas. Libraries already do that. They’ve been exceedingly conscientious about this issue since before I was born. No library I’ve ever worked at or used has what a reasonable person would call pornography in any kids’ area, or what the Supreme Court has determined would be ‘obscene.’ This rule corrects a problem that only exists in propaganda.
“The rule is about forcing librarians to conform to the views of a subset of the community instead of trying to serve the whole community, by increasing the leverage of that subset and by making librarians fearful of angering that subset.”
He also has told his board that “there is no way to be safe from challenge and still be a library,” referring to library goals to offer books with various viewpoints and to serve diverse patrons.
“I think there is no way to have a juvenile card without risk of complaints or lawsuits,” Bonner said. As a result, it’s likely that fewer children in some libraries will have their own library cards, he predicts.
https://www.stltoday.com/entertainmen...
To understand the mindset of the book banners, apparently one needs to see the documentary series "Shiny, Happy People" about the Duggar family and fundamentalist Christians. Examples from their textbooks are embedded from Twitter in the article from Book Riot. VERY creepy stuff. I went to public school and have been reading books from public libraries since I was 6. I was never been exposed to so much sexual content in my books and that includes a good 7 or 8 years of after school Catholic education (CCD), and sex ed classes. I don't even think my Puritan ancestors taught like this. If I were these people, I'd stick with the The New-England Primer. That's ghastly enough.https://bookriot.com/shiny-happy-peop...
In other news (via Book Riot)The Arizona governor vetoed a bill that would have facilitated book banning across the state.
In Douglas County, Colorado, citizens rebuked the efforts by the right-wing bigots to ban books throughout the library, among other things. The bigots have been claiming “victory” on social media, utilizing the same propaganda and misinformation they did on their initial flier.
“An anti-LGBTQ+ protest was organized on Instagram after a Pride celebration was scheduled at Saticoy Elementary in North Hollywood [CA]. The Pride celebration included a book reading about different types of families. Shortly after the celebration was announced, someone broke into the school after-hours to steal a transgender teacher’s pride flag and burn it. The same teacher was also doxxed by right-wing activists.”
Lander Valley High School (WY) has heard complaints about Let's Talk About It: The Teen's Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human but the book remains in the library.
Four books which have been sequestered behind the desk at St Tammany Parish Library (LA) have been returned to their rightful spots on shelf.
At Idaho Falls Public Library (ID), every child now needs to have a parent or guardian re-register them for a library card. Why? Because of their new restricted card policy.
Demands to remove books in Rio Rancho Public Library (NM) were unsuccessful.
West Bend, Wisconsin is dealing with a spate of book challenges to the same familiar titles popular with the book crisis actors elsewhere, and there are board members sympathetic to the lies.
"If you say yes to this bill, and this bill passes, you are playing in the hands of the GOP’s current attempt to eradicate LGBTQ education from this country,” said Marco Cozzolino, a senior at Westerly High School. “This is not how I want to remember this town.” This town hall in Westerly, Rhode Island, is a powerful look at how government should work — they talked about the new legislation in the state that would create more book bans (an interesting counter to the legislation earlier this year to protect librarians and teachers in the state from prosecution). The local representatives will not be voting in favor of the bill.
The 23-person (TWENTY THREE PERSON!!!!) committee at the Greeley-Evans School District (CO) are recommending keeping two challenged books in the schools.
Numerous people urged the board to leave in place its current opt-out policy by which parents can forbid their children from checking out objectionable books. So far, 41 parents have opted their children out of certain books. Thousands of parents, however, let their children have full access to the school libraries.” Most parents do not restrict their students’ access to books (Cheyenne, Wyoming).
Three books are being challenged by parents — they were acquired via a “list” posted on Facebook page, shocker — in Whitehall school district (MI).
"Students will need parental permission to read or check out books containing sexual content in the Hermon High School library beginning this fall, Principal Brian Walsh told the school board Monday.” This is in Maine. All parents will need to make a choice for their kids.
A proposal in Amherst, Pelham and Amherst-Pelham Regional schools (NH) would limit book challenges to actual residents of the district.
A proposal in Amherst, Pelham and Amherst-Pelham Regional schools (NH) would limit book challenges to actual residents of the district.
The book banners from Front Royal, Virginia, want to simply defund the public library if it doesn’t remove the books they disagree with.
At a meeting last month, commissioners voted to remove the definition of diversity from Georgia’s teacher training documents. Thursday’s meeting is expected to include a vote on deleting ‘woke’ words from guides for training teachers and replacing them with less controversial language. For example, one change would instruct teachers to promote the value of ‘fairness’ rather than the values of ‘equity, social justice, community and diversity.'”
Liberty Lake City Council (WA) has officially failed in trying to take over the public library.
https://bookriot.com/shiny-happy-peop...
Today I went to a "teach truth" event at the library! TeachTruthAction.org
I made a button that says "Teach Banned Books", made a scrapbook page for the librarians that will be displayed in the library, discussed the issue with some nice people and looked at displays of banned books. Other people were writing postcards to editors and elected representatives. There were NO protestors and the event had people standing by in case security was needed. It was wonderful to see the community support.
#TeachTruth
sign the pledge
I also promised I'd try to check out a group of White people for social justice that meets at the library next Tuesday evening. Find a chapter near you
https://surj.org/
Lots of news from yesterday and today.A local nonprofit in Hillsborough County, Florida pivots because of recent book challenges, bans in Florida
"— A local teenager recently received two Congressional Awards from Representative Kathy Castor, recognizing the work he has done in the community.
Full Story: https://wfts.tv/3J5x6Lm
To learn more about Eco Brothers Inc. and the nonprofit’s mission, click here.
https://www.ecobrothersinc.org/
One more library may lose funding over controversial books Klamath County, Oregon
A book club at the county library was to discuss No More Police: A Case for Abolition
After complaints from residents, a Klamath County book club session was canceled last month because the club featured a book called “No More Police.”
At a meeting on May 3, library officials said Klamath County commissioners told the library it couldn’t endorse or sponsor any political position, in the group or ones like it.
As a result, Library officials said they had to cancel the book group until further notice.
That decision could cost it it’s ‘public library’ status, according to the ‘Oregon Library Association.’
https://kobi5.com/news/local-news/kla...
Bedford County School Board (Virginia) approves changes to policy on “teaching about controversial issuesBEDFORD COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) - The Bedford County School Board, in a 5-1 vote, has approved changing policy INB in Bedford County Public Schools Thursday night. The policy focuses on “teaching about controversial issues,” which includes discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity.
The verbiage on sexual orientation and gender identity specifically said: “In addition, teachers shall not engage in discussions with students about sexual orientation or gender identity. “Sexual orientation” is defined as an individual’s physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction to people of the same and/or different gender. “Gender identity” is defined as an individual’s personal conception of their gender.”
The board amended the above verbiage to switch the word “engage” with “initiate” before approving it. This came after mixed responses from public speakers at the meeting.
”This policy as written serves to support parental rights in that it ensures that a parent is the person who discusses controversial issues including sexual orientation and gender identity with their child,” said Amy Snead, a BCPS parent.
“It’s creating this climate of fear and confusion and discrimination and probably bullying. It’s working to effectively erase LGBTQ+ presence in BCPS,” said Cindy Younghouse, a BCPS parent.
...
“When providing instruction, as long as the discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity relates to the standards of the course, while using approved curriculum materials, teachers do not need to be concerned that they’re in violation of school board policy. This caution about using approved curriculum materials already exists in multiple school board policies, including policy IA instructional goals and objectives. ...This policy does not restrict students from initiating a conversation with a staff member. If a student is upset and initiates a conversation with a trusted teacher or a counselor, the revisions to this policy do not eliminate nor lessen the responsibility of our teachers and our support staff members, as articulated in our strategic plan to provide for a safe and supportive learning environment both physically and emotionally. Including the importance of creating a school culture of acceptance, so that schools promote a sense of belonging foster students social and emotional development. Consequently, if a student is upset, and initiates a conversation with their teacher, the teacher should listen with empathy, they should take action as appropriate, particularly when the concern relates to bullying or harassment. And they should encourage that student to speak with their parents,” said Superintendent Bergin.
https://www.wdbj7.com/2023/06/09/bedf...
Lesbian L.A. School Board President Gives a Lesson on LGBTQ+ Inclusionhttps://news.yahoo.com/lesbian-l-scho...
In the UK, the book Grandad's Pride
is getting a lot of flack for the illustrations. Somehow... these censors actually know things I don't and therefore interpret the illustrations as obscene. If they don't want their kids to see it, they shouldn't buy it! https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...
Speaking Up For Diverse Booksopinion piece from St. Louis Today
https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/colu...
Maine keeps holding out against the censors. Now the Orono Public Library has a "Banned Books Club" for kids in 8th grade -high school. They read and discuss books that have been banned and challenged around the country and in Maine.https://wgme.com/news/local/maine-lib...
In LaCrosse, Wisconsin A release from the 7 Rivers LGBTQ Connection in La Crosse said that last week, the Gale-Ettrick Trempealeau's Instructional Resources Reconsideration Committee voted to remove the book "Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality from the GET middle school library.The center said the ban is being reconsidered, but executive director Alesha Schandelmeier said she felt it was important to speak out.
"Everybody deserves to see themselves represented in you know, materials, whether it's books, movies, TV. And it sets a really dangerous precedent when you're banning books that are specifically directed towards marginalized groups," Schandelmeier said.
The GET school board's agenda said the board will reconsider a decision made by the instructional resource committee on Monday, June 12.
https://www.news8000.com/news/educati...
In Massachusetts, Ludlow book policy, copied ‘from Google,’ is proposed amid a national wave of banshttps://www.masslive.com/news/2023/06...
THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE in Ludlow is expected to wade into the nation’s culture wars this week, taking up a proposal that would shift decision-making power around library book acquisitions from school administrators and librarians to school committee members, parents, and residents.
Visual or written content that is sexually explicit or depicts human genitalia would be prohibited under the proposal, although there are some adjustments for older grades. Under the proposal, the school superintendent would develop a list of books for acquisition, which would then be reviewed by Ludlow residents for 30 days before the school committee votes on it, either in whole or book by book. School and library staff would be responsible for ensuring current library materials meet the policy’s criteria, and could be disciplined or even terminated if they fail to do so.
The policy was proposed by School Committee member Joao Dias, who modeled it on a policy adopted by schools in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. That policy is being challenged in court by the American Civil Liberties Union, which alleges it is targeting LGBTQ youth.
“Proponents of this policy say they are for parents’ rights, but in truth, they are anything but,” Ruth Borquin, senior and managing attorney of the ACLU of Massachusetts, says. “This policy violates the rights of parents who want their children to have access to information vetted by qualified educators and librarians, not by a puritanical group of people obsessed with body parts.”
Borquin says that Massachusetts, like other states across the country, has recently seen an uptick of people challenging various titles. But this policy, if passed, would be the first sweeping book ban in any library in the Commonwealth.
Laura O’Keefe, a middle school social studies teacher, said the proposed policy is a response to things that are not happening in the schools. “There is no p____y in our libraries,” she said. “We don’t have students who pretend to be cats, and we certainly don’t have litter boxes in our bathrooms. There is no conspiracy to teach anything other than the Massachusetts State Standards and we do not deliberately hide things from parents and guardians. Especially at the middle school level, the more support we can get from parents and families, the better.”
Jenny Wright, a therapist and middle school parent, said that middle and high school students “are appropriately developmentally curious about sexuality and gender.” Wright says research shows over 50 percent of children are exposed to pornography through websites and social media by the age of 13. “Doesn’t it make more sense for them to have access to books rather than looking this information up online?”
Looking for Alaska
Crank
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/educ...
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So really, a book that is set in Siberia (or other parts of Russia) somehow means the author supports Vladimir Putin and his invasion of the Ukraine??
I guess that means books like Between Shades of Grey should also not be read because they take place in Siberia?
Disturbing news from communities near me!In Essex, CT, a shore town near my parents, where a former co-worker's parents live, someone removed 20 Pride month books and took apart the display! The books were found undamaged elsewhere in the library and the display was put back up.
“We are disappointed and troubled by the unauthorized disassembly of the displays and removal of the materials and are actively investigating the matter,” the library posted to social media. “Essex Library is committed to providing free access to information for all individuals and families in our community and supports each person’s and each family’s freedom to choose what they want to read and to decide what is important or relevant for their own lives.”
https://www.wfsb.com/2023/06/12/essex...
My MOM told me about this one! I had to dig for it online as it did not make the large newspaper! Summary:
In northern RI, The Smithfield School Committee is considering a change to the district's policy on transgender and non-conforming students.
The revision would require teachers to notify a parent if a middle or high school student says they are thinking about transitioning.
The change adds a line in the current policy, stating there should be "disclosure to parents or legal guardians of gender identity, expression or transition."
"The language of the current policy, which reads, "If the administration determines that notifying the family carries risks for the student, it should work closely with the student to assess the degree to which, if any, the family will be involved in the process and must consider the age, health, well-being and safety of the student."
Current policy is based on guidance from the Department of Education, which takes into account federal law.
ALSO
The pushback from school committee members surrounding the existing policy led to bigger discussion about which bathrooms transgender students can use and if parents should be notified if a transgender student is using the bathroom of the gender they identify with at school.
An attorney said that goes against federal privacy laws under education.
"The Smithfield School Committee’s recent discussion about their policy on transgender, gender nonconforming, and transitioning students has raised serious concerns. The proposed changes may go against best practices recommended by Rhode Island’s Department of Education and possibly state and federal laws. The Committee Chair, Vice-Chair, and a Committee member, all Republicans, insisted they were only trying to align the policy with their beliefs on parental rights, but their statements revealed a lack of understanding about the issues and a clear right-wing ideological bias."
"In a discussion that lasted over an hour, the Smithfield School Committee discussed proposed changes to the Policy that the public had little access to. Smithfield Schools Superintendent Dawn Bartz would only allow access to the revised policy upon request, and allowed no copies to be made for the public.
Superintendent Bartz said that while partnering with families is always the ideal, “there are certain times and certain cases – which is why [the Policy says] ‘on a case-by-case basis’ – where, as it references in the Policy, there may be a danger to the student.” She added that such decisions are not made by the Superintendent alone. There are team meetings and discussions held to determine if there is a safety issue with notifying the parents.
As for the differences in policy for elementary and secondary school students, Superintendent Bartz noted that there are differences in their developmental levels and, “certainly, as students get older, in middle school and high school, they are starting to make more and more decisions [about] their identity…” Superintendent Bartz added that the difference in policy does not negate “in any case, parental involvement.”
Vice-Chair Sala maintained that there should be no differences between the policies for elementary and secondary students, and that if there was indeed a danger to students in disclosing this information to parents, the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) should be notified.
Committeemember Amanda Fafard agreed that the policies should be the same for all students, regardless of age, and stressed that no matter where you stand on this issue, everyone wants students to feel safe.
[a whole lot of disgusting misinformation and rhetoric about bathrooms and the counter argument with FACTS and student opinions.]
Some parents who spoke Monday expressed fear over the proposed policy, saying the district should not be pushing an agenda.
Committee member Amanda Fafard said she listened to everyone speak, and said she doesn’t believe any district has the authority to take away parental rights. Fafard said she does not feel there are enough mental health resources in the district.
“It could be devastating. And I want every child to feel safe. They should all feel safe. It could be a parent’s cultural views we’re taking from them,” she said.
Fafard said student safety is paramount in schools, and her decisions are made with the students’ best interests in mind.
School Committee member Benjamin Caisse said as a teacher, he’s seen students and parents on all ends of the spectrum on this issue. He explained that there are parental rights to be informed if a student is injured, sick or has mental health issues.
Speaking from experience, he said not every situation is safe for students’ gender identity to be exposed. In that case, mental health issues could escalate. “Every situation is different,” Caisse said.
He said the ultimate goal is to have a safe environment.
Caisse made his case that informing parents of transgendered students in a class would be the same as outing the student. He said mandatory disclosure to parents is called outing, and it is sending a message to LGBTQ students that they are less than others. He said Smithfield always involves parents wherever possible. They don’t pick and choose who they make feel safe and protected, he said, but represent everyone.
Multiple teachers spoke in support of the policy and protecting students. Kerissa Roderick said LGBTQ students are at risk.
“Our job is to support them, period. That’s where it ends,” Roderick said.
Stefanie Howell said the discourse on the policy was “utter nonsense,” questioning why some community members and leaders are treating transgendered people like they are a risk to the population.
“I don’t know what you think transgender kids are doing in the bathroom besides their business,” Howell said.
Jess Chin said outing students to parents is robbing a student of their autonomy to make that decision. She said it’s up to the person to decide when they’re comfortable enough to come out.
On the other end of the spectrum, some parents said they felt it is too young for students to make that decision. Brian Curtin said trans children are more likely to commit suicide, and he would like to know if his child is at risk.
“These kids are all uncomfortable in their bodies. They’re going through adolescence,” he said.
Three students spoke during the meeting as well, including School Committee student representative Henry Siravo. He said as a student, he feels his perspective is important to be heard on the matter, saying forcing a student to tell their parents about gender identity could ruin any trusting relationship a student has with a teacher or administrator.
As a gay student, he said, a number of his classmates do not feel comfortable using the same restroom as him, but there is no other choice. Siravo said there are “numerous” LGBTQ students at SHS.
“That may ruin many of the high school experiences and isolate them from their friends and community,” Siravo said.
https://turnto10.com/i-team/schools-i...
https://upriseri.com/smithfield-schoo...
https://www.valleybreeze.com/news/div...
Disgusting news from Texas Gov. Abbott"Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law on Monday that will create a statewide rating and censorship system for school libraries and another promoting more centralized school curricula.
The rating bill, House Bill 900, is designed to ban certain books with sexual content from school libraries, and Abbott praised it as getting "that trash out of our schools." Opponents have warned it will target books aimed at an LGBTQ audience, and bookstores, particularly smaller, independent ones, have said the bill is poorly written and could be damaging to their businesses.
The curriculum bill, House Bill 1605, would offer extra funds to school districts that adopt state-approved lesson plans. It also includes measures requiring parents to be able to view the plans, and it overhauls the process by which textbooks and instructional materials are vetted by the State Board of Education. It's designed to lessen the workload of teachers, but some are concerned it will be used to more tightly control how or what they teach in classrooms."
Gov. Abbott is also fulfilling the right-wing extremist agenda of taking money away from public schools to funnel into private schools.
"The governor has pledged a special session to push harder for "school choice," a promise that he reiterated on Monday afternoon. Advocates for traditional public schools oppose private school voucher plans tooth-and-nail because they lead to students departing public schools, which deprives those schools of per-student funding, among other reasons. Vouchers supporters say they're a necessary policy to ensure all children can access great schools."
https://www.expressnews.com/politics/...
And by April of next year, every bookseller in the state is tasked with submitting to the Texas Education Agency a list of every book they’ve ever sold to a teacher, librarian or school that qualifies for a sexual rating and is in active use. The stores also are required to issue recalls for any sexually explicit books.
Owners and employees of bookstores around the state have said they don’t have the staff or expertise to read and rate every single book they are selling to an educator, and they have no records to retroactively rate every book they’ve ever sold to a school. If the TEA finds that bookstores have been incorrectly rating books, they can be banned from doing business with charter schools or school districts, which might make up between 10 percent and a third of their business.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco. He dubbed it the Restricting Explicit and Adult-Designated Educational Resources act, or READER Act. The measure was born out of conservative fears in the last few years of sexual content in public schools. Many of the books that were subsequently identified as inappropriate were written for LGBTQ children and teenagers.
It was inspired by Gender Queer: A Memoir
Paxton said the bill will mostly affect large vendors, as just 50 companies sell most books purchased by Texas public schools, and three giants are responsible for the bulk of titles in campus libraries.
“If vendors want to sell books in Texas, they certainly have a vested interest in making sure it’s done properly,” she added.
But while those large vendors may be able to more easily bear the extra costs associated with this bill if it becomes law, it will be more difficult for the roughly 300 independent bookstores in Texas that have much smaller profit margins overall than the giants.
https://www.expressnews.com/politics/...
More of the same rhetoric from IndianaIndiana school librarians worry new law banning ‘obscene’ books will harm their work and students
"lawmakers passed a bill that forbids books deemed “obscene” or “harmful to minors” on school library shelves, following hours of heated public comment. House Enrolled Act 1447 also requires school districts to establish procedures to publish their school library catalogs, and to set up a process for a parent or community member to request removal of obscene or harmful material.
Now, Heck and other librarians with the Indiana Library Federation (ILF) who fought against the legislation are learning to live with the law, but they are still trying to clarify misconceptions about it. They stress that the law is not an outright book ban. They also say many districts already post their catalogs online, and already have procedures for challenging books.
School librarians say that contrary to what some might think, they don’t have obscene or harmful material in their collections. Instead, they worry the law will create what amounts to self-censorship among school librarians — who for the past few years have been the target of public scorn and scrutiny over what, exactly, is on their shelves.
“It contributes to this culture of fear that many librarians are operating under, which does have a chilling effect on our collections,” said Heck, the advocacy co-chair of ILF, which has a subgroup known as the Association of Indiana School Library Educators (AISLE). “And I’m concerned about this.”
While the new law prohibits schools from providing students with material deemed “obscene” or “harmful to minors,” it also requires that the material in question lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. In addition, the material must be considered as a whole by readers.
Some school librarians say they don’t have materials in their libraries that meet the statutory definitions of material that libraries must pull from their shelves. And the books in Tomes’ office illustrate how differently both sides view the content.
There’s a lot of thought and effort and time put into having the books in the collection,” said Diane Rogers, vice president of the Indiana Library Federation who’s a librarian at the Ben Davis Ninth Grade Center in the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township. “I don’t purchase books on a whim, just like I won’t remove books on a whim.”
But as challenges to books and school libraries have intensified, critics of laws like Indiana’s have worried that groups will target books serving underserved communities — such as LGBTQ youth — for censorship or restrictions, increasing those students’ feeling of isolation.
“Right now, I am more concerned about librarians removing materials that meet the needs of our communities because they’re worried about backlash, or worried about being personally attacked,” Heck said. “And that is having a huge impact on libraries in our state.”
“There are people who are asking themselves: Is it worth it for me?” said Rogers. “There’s librarians who are asking questions because their administration is coming to them and asking them to pull certain titles, you know, usually in an abundance of caution.”
The law also tweaked the various defenses individuals can claim as protection from prosecution for disseminating material harmful to minors — classified as a felony under state law.
The new law removes the previous defenses that allowed sharing such material if it was done for an educational purpose or shared by a school. However, librarians with ILF and the Indiana State Library maintain that school employees can still claim a defense from prosecution under the law if they are acting within the scope of their employment. "
https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/in...
And now the good news. The Sec. of State and Gov. of Illinois are superheroes.Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias told the Sun-Times he was “blown away” after reading about book bans across the country. “To me, this is a slippery slope, and it goes against what education is about,” he said.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the measure into law on Monday afternoon. It will block state grant funding to public libraries and schools that don’t adhere to the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, a set of rules that says reading materials shouldn’t be removed or restricted due to “partisan or personal disapproval.”
The institutions can also adopt their own written statement that prohibits banning books or other materials so they can remain eligible for state funding. The new law will take effect Jan. 1.
The secretary of state said several other states have reached out to emulate the Illinois bill, and he plans to help them as soon as the measure becomes law.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/6/1...
https://abc7chicago.com/illinois-book...
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Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias told the Sun-Times he was “blown away” after reading about book bans ac..."
This is good news, and it should be followed by not allowing ANY anonymous book challenges and that every challenge needs to be made public and provide the names of the challengers, of the would be book banners.
The Omaha Public Library felt the need to apologize over confusion regarding lists of recommended reading. They had a list of summer reading that included LGBTQ+ books and some parents flipped a lid and complained. The lists were removed and now reinstated."In a statement posted online and on social media on Monday, Executive Director Laura Marlane confirmed that OPL had restored book lists for kids and teens previously removed from the library’s 2023 Reading Challenge and annual Summer Reading Program.
“I realize that removing these lists from the Reading Challenge page has left some members of our community and staff at OPL feeling unsupported, and for that, I am sorry,” she said in her statement on the library’s website.
“Because all ages may participate in the 2023 Reading Challenge, OPL staff curated reading recommendations for kids and teens to address each of the 12 categories represented in the Reading Challenge, including titles that could be considered as options for the ‘Read a book about or featuring LGBTQIA+ history.’ Some individuals in the community understood Reading Challenge recommendations to be requirements for kids and teens to be successful in the Summer Reading Program, which does not have suggested or required reading.
In an attempt to avoid further confusion, I made the decision to remove the kids and teen book lists from the Reading Challenge page. My goal was to differentiate between the two initiatives and return focus toward participation in the Summer Reading Program. This was a mistake.”
Email response from Laura Marlan, executive director, Omaha Public Library.
She said Friday that the lists had been restored and noted then that “OPL values equal and inclusive access.”
https://www.wowt.com/2023/06/12/omaha...
In Caro, Michigan residents will have to wait another month before they can express their concerns or support to the Caro Area District Library Board regarding the removal of certain library books.Some residents are saying certain books in the children and teen sections of the library are [obscene].
“I was hoping to show that the Mayville Public Library has one of these books that we’ve asked to be moved to the adult section currently in the adult section so that our request was reasonable and, you know, something that other libraries do,” said Stephani Spencer, a Caro resident.
Library officials said the residents looking to have the books moved did not follow the proper procedures.
“There’s a form, a one-page form that they can fill out talking about where they think it would be appropriate or what their reasoning is for moving it,” said Erin Schmandt with the Caro Area District Library.
The Request for Further Consideration of Library Materials is a form that can be found online in the library’s Policy Manual or can be picked up in person. Once it is filled out, it then gets submitted to the library director for consideration.
“That starts me doing all the research,” Schmandt said. “So, I go and look at where do other libraries have it. What’s the publisher’s guideline for where this was placed? Why is placed in this area?”
If that process was followed, some believe the community uproar could have been avoided.
“If they would simply follow the procedure, it could come before the board and the board can deal with it,” Jones said.
Because of the large attendance, the library board chose to postpone the meeting to July 10.
https://www.wnem.com/2023/06/13/contr...
I picked up a couple of banned books today to send to other states. At the library book sale I foundThe List of Things That Will Not Change
All American Boys
Other Words for Home
I was hoping for more but I didn't see any of the so-called obscene books. I know they have them in the library collections. They have a list available of books on tough topics. If you need a book on a tough topic and don't want to ask, here's where to go. That is a good idea but it also works both ways and shows the censors where to find the books they want to remove. This is a large, urban public library.
The children's room highlights some diverse books in their displays and the main lobby has a Pride Month section, an African-American Music Month selection. The teen room has a section of social justice books.
In Central York, PA, one woman, Faith Casale, personally filed two challenges that got books banned from the high school and now she's running for school committee! She didn't even recommend an alternate book to be used instead , just withdraw this book from all students.https://twitter.com/717amelia/status/...
Moms for Liberty actually set up booths inside the capitol building in Harrisburg, PA
All copies of Beloved have been discretely “weeded” from
PennridgeSD (Penn.) High School Library.
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Many parts of the USA are becoming the land of the willfully ignorant and undemocratic (and this disease is also beginning to move into Canada, in particular the prairie provinces and parts of British Columbia).
Lots going on this week. In the good news category
"A national free-speech organization is threatening the City of Orem, Utah with a lawsuit, accusing the city of censorship and violating the First Amendment.
The Utah Library Association said the censorship started last summer.
“About a year ago last June, the Orem City Library pulled their Pride display in the children’s department after a request from a member of the Orem City Council,” said association president Patrick Hoecherl.
It’s reached the point that the national organization FIRE — the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression — is stepping in and threatening the city with a lawsuit.
...
In a seven-page letter sent to the city and the council members, the organization explained that since June 2022, the city “further censored the public library by banning all heritage-month displays, including Hispanic Heritage Month, Native American History Month, and Black History Month, even though the library had hosted these popular displays for several years before the City’s ban.”
The letter went on to say that displays celebrating holidays like Columbus Day, Christmas, and the Fourth of July were allowed to continue.
“These librarians are people that are living in these communities,” said Hoecherl. “They’re there every day doing that work, seeing those people. It’s very difficult when a government official kind of steps in with a political agenda.”
The city and city council disagree, issuing their own statements, claiming it was a misunderstanding.
https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-n...
More on the Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation controversy from the Jerusalem Post. Israeli journalists are appalled that American Jews would ban this book and how all editions published in English since the 1950s HAVE contained the same sexual content these would-be censors seem to conveniently forget."Published in 2018, Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation is a new, abridged version of Frank’s famous diary presented in comic-book format. The project was authorized by the Anne Frank Fonds, the Switzerland-based foundation started by Anne’s father Otto Frank, which controls the copyright to the diary Otto rescued after he survived.
The Oscar-nominated Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman, together with illustrator David Polonsky, put the new book together. It was intended as a companion piece to the 2021 animated film Where Is Anne Frank, which Folman directed.
While the film tells the fanciful story of Anne’s imaginary friend Kitty coming to life and wandering through modern-day Amsterdam, the book is a straightforward, though heavily truncated, rendition of Anne’s original diary. All of the entries it reproduces are taken from her original text, and dialogue between the characters in the annex is based on Anne’s own recollections of their conversations. Some of its supporters resist the label “graphic novel,” which they say implies the story is fictional.
The new book, the foundation says, is not meant to replace Frank’s original diary, first published in Dutch in 1947 as The Secret Annex and in English in 1952 as The Diary of a Young Girl. That book, along with subsequent editions that restored some passages edited out of the first publication, continues to be published and widely read in dozens of languages.
Critics of the book say they are objecting to the small handful of passages in which Anne describes sexual matters. In one, she discusses a time she asked a female friend if they could show each other their breasts, but was rebuffed. (“If only I had a girlfriend,” she muses.) In another, she describes clinical details of her own vagina.
These passages are Anne’s own writing, and were part of her actual diary. Folman and Polonsky reproduce them in the book and show a full-page illustration showing her wandering through a garden of female nude statues in the Greco-Roman tradition.
This illustration, which is presented as coming from Anne’s imagination, has garnered the most intense blowback from parents. In Facebook groups devoted to book challenges, some members have shared screenshots of the page as evidence of the adaptation’s obscene qualities, questioning why any parent would want their child to read it.
Some people challenging the book have offered other explanations. Tiffany Justice, a co-founder of Moms For Liberty whose Florida district has removed the book, told JTA that she was troubled by the fact that the adaptation only replicates a small percentage of the original diary, while leaving out what she believed to be crucial context: the original epilogue that shifted from Anne’s first-person narration to a larger study of the victims of the Holocaust. (An afterword does appear in the graphic adaptation.)
Inveighing against current child literacy levels she said are woefully low, Justice was also infuriated by the idea that Frank’s diary needed an illustrated version to begin with.
“Anne wrote the diary when she was 13,” she said. “So the diary is written at a level where children of that age can completely understand it.”
First, while the visual format of the graphic adaptation (which incorporates some surreal imagery) arguably lies somewhere between fact and artistic interpretation, and its rendition of the diary is severely abridged, the book did not invent the passages these parents find objectionable, as some have alleged. Those came, word for word, from Frank herself. Both passages were fully restored to her English-language diary beginning with versions published in the 1980s, largely without incident.
A crucial part of the argument against the graphic adaptation is the idea that both of these passages were excised from the initial English-language edition of the diary. Both Friedman and Fine have told JTA they have no recollection of having read the passages with sexual content in their own childhood memories of the diary.
They almost certainly did, said Ruth Franklin, a book critic and author who is writing a book about Frank and her diary to be published next year by Yale University Press. According to Franklin’s research, the very first English-language edition of the diary did indeed include one of the two passages the parents are now objecting to: the part where Anne discusses her attraction to another girl.
Franklin said that, contrary to popular belief, Otto Frank was the one who pushed for the passage to be included in the diary’s first English-language edition after it was excised from the Dutch original. Otto is often portrayed as having been responsible for removing the passage so as to sanitize Anne’s language for a general audience.
Contemporary parents who insist they did not read the passage as children, she said, are “misremembering.”
“If they were to actually go to the library and open up the edition that has been in print since 1952, they would be unhappily surprised to find what’s there,” Franklin said. “It seems inconsistent to me to go after the graphic adaptation and not the diary itself.”
Meehan of PEN America suggested that the parents who objected to Anne exploring her sexuality were doing so because of the passages’ latent LGBTQ themes, meaning that the text had become an example of “intersectionality,” or representing more than one marginalized group. Some of the book’s opponents, including Justice, have separately attacked the idea of intersectionality.
“When there are multiple themes represented in a book,” Meehan said, “then that book becomes even more a focus of efforts to remove it.”
For the Anne Frank Fonds, the Swiss group that controls the diary and authorized the adaptation, the situation is clear-cut. From across the Atlantic, the group issued a statement responding to challenges of the diary in all its forms: “We consider the book of a 12-year-old girl to be appropriate reading for her peers.”
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antise...
Protests in Central York, Pa. are working! Those diverse books are STILL not back in the classroom! 200 books! Also the two recent bans of YA books.
—
The Central York School District's school board will vote next week on a new library resources policy.
If approved on June 20, the policy would return two books to the district's high school library.
The books were removed earlier this year through a formalized challenge process started by a parent.
The books are "Push" by Sapphire and "A Court of Mist and Fury
The new policy would allow a parent to restrict access to books to their children instead of restricting books to all students.
The Central York School District approved the second reading of a library resource plan that has drawn criticism from some.
The library resource plan does not include removing titles, rather the policy would require librarians to categorize books and put them in “young adult” and “adult” sections.
Parents who don't want their kids to have access to those books will have the chance to opt-out. Parents can still challenge a book, but it would be reclassified into an adult category, not necessarily banned.
The policy also leaves open the ability to contact a librarian about a certain title or author.
https://www.wgal.com/article/central-...
https://local21news.com/news/crisis-i...
In GALESVILLE, Wis. Community and board members of the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau school district discussed a committee's ban of the book Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexualityfrom GET’s middle school library.No decision was made tonight, and the book is back on middle school shelves.
One school board member said she feels there is an error in the policy language, which led to a misunderstanding in the vote.
The decision on whether or not to keep the book won't be made by the board.
The committee is separate, but it follows guidelines for book removal set by the board.
That is a policy that board members are hoping to revise.
At this time, the discussion was tabled to the next policy meeting.
https://www.news8000.com/news/educati...
The Hanover County (Virginia) School Board is preparing to vote on a new policy to remove books deemed “inappropriate” for public school libraries.Under the current rules, any initial complaint underwent multiple tiers of review; the school board made the final determination on removal.
Hanover’s policy specifies four tiers of review when a book is challenged:
Conference with principal;
Local school review committee;
Instructional material review committee;
School board review and final vote
Proposed changes target books that contain “pervasive vulgarities” and “sexually explicit” material, neither of which were defined in the original May draft. However Steve Ikenberry, who represents the Cold Harbor District, delivered a list of examples that may fall under the provision.
“These are books that are age-inappropriate, they have zero educational value or suitability. Zero. None,” Ikenberry said on May 9. “This is not happy reading by any stretch of the imagination.”
Under the revision, library material would undergo a three-step review process involving the Local School Review Committee, the Instruction Material Committee and the board — which would make the final call.
“We’re not banning books,” Ikenberry said in May. “We're trying to clean stuff up a little bit.”
Over a dozen speakers spoke against the proposed policy at the May 9 meeting, as it follows a familiar playbook to book policies proposed across the country.
the school board held a June 6 work to revise portions of the draft policy.
This revision gives individual principals and school librarians a final determination before books are removed from circulation and expedites the process by which books are reviewed by the three-tier system, so that no one person has the authority to remove a book.
A portion of the proposal also states that teachers should catalog their own classroom books for review.
https://www.vpm.org/news/2023-06-09/h...
YA books
Choke
Haunted
A Court of Mist and Fury
A Court of Silver Flames
The Bluest Eye
Flamer
+ popular adult books that have been turned into movies and TV
The Hanover County (Virginia) School Board is preparing to vote on a new policy to remove books deemed “inappropriate” for public school libraries.Under the current rules, any initial complaint underwent multiple tiers of review; the school board made the final determination on removal.
Hanover’s policy specifies four tiers of review when a book is challenged:
Conference with principal;
Local school review committee;
Instructional material review committee;
School board review and final vote
Proposed changes target books that contain “pervasive vulgarities” and “sexually explicit” material, neither of which were defined in the original May draft. However Steve Ikenberry, who represents the Cold Harbor District, delivered a list of examples that may fall under the provision.
“These are books that are age-inappropriate, they have zero educational value or suitability. Zero. None,” Ikenberry said on May 9. “This is not happy reading by any stretch of the imagination.”
Under the revision, library material would undergo a three-step review process involving the Local School Review Committee, the Instruction Material Committee and the board — which would make the final call.
“We’re not banning books,” Ikenberry said in May. “We're trying to clean stuff up a little bit.”
Over a dozen speakers spoke against the proposed policy at the May 9 meeting, as it follows a familiar playbook to book policies proposed across the country.
the school board held a June 6 work to revise portions of the draft policy.
This revision gives individual principals and school librarians a final determination before books are removed from circulation and expedites the process by which books are reviewed by the three-tier system, so that no one person has the authority to remove a book.
A portion of the proposal also states that teachers should catalog their own classroom books for review.
https://www.vpm.org/news/2023-06-09/h...
YA books
Choke
Haunted
A Court of Mist and Fury
A Court of Silver Flames
The Bluest Eye
Flamer
+ popular adult books that have been turned into movies and TV
News from South CarolinaIn a special Beaufort County Board of Education meeting on Friday, June 2, at Battery Creek High School that lasted less than three minutes, the school board voted to affirm the decisions of the book review committees that returned seven books to the Beaufort County School District (BCSD) library shelves on May 11.
The board voted 6-1 to uphold the committee decisions.
The committees had reviewed eight YA books at Okatie Elementary – Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher, Fade by Lisa McMann, Fallout by Ellen Hopkins, Foul Is Fair, Golden Boys Beware: A Novel by Hanna Capin, Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero, Identical by Ellen Hopkins, Push by Sapphire and Tricks by Ellen Hopkins.
The committees returned all but Identical by Ellen Hopkins. Because of a tie vote, it will go back into the review process.
Almost Perfect, Fade, Fallout and Tricks – were previously available to students in Grades 6 through 12. Of those books, Fallout by Ellen Hopkins will be returned to circulation without any additional restrictions, whereas the other three books will be returned to library circulation for Grades 9 through 12 only.
The other four books, Foul is Fair / Golden Boys Beware, Gabi, A Girl in Pieces, Identical and Push were all originally available for Grades 9 through 12, and all but Identical have been returned to those grade levels.
Of the 97 books that were originally removed from BCSD libraries, 54 have gone through the review process. Of those, three books have been removed from school district shelves – It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult and The Haters by Jessie Andrews – with one book – Identical by Ellen Hopkins – returning to the review process.
There are still 44 books that need to go through the review process, including the book that is being re-reviewed. The review process will continue into the summer according to BCSD spokesperson Candace Bruder. Review committees will meet twice during the school district’s summer break, but those dates have not been finalized.
https://yourislandnews.com/boe-uphold...
Children's Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Out of the Blue (other topics)The Princess in Black and the Prince in Pink (other topics)
My Rainbow (other topics)
Butt or Face? Volume 3: Super Gross Butts (other topics)
The Day the Books Disappeared (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Jodi Picoult (other topics)Sarah J. Maas (other topics)
Ellen Hopkins (other topics)
Jodi Picoult (other topics)
Scott Stuart (other topics)
More...
One woman won't allow her child on a playdate at the home of anyone who is not extended family and she seems to be under the impression that two parent..."
And the uncomfortable but painfully truth of the matter is that children often face more threats of abuse and danger from family members and from close family friends (and from people like teachers, clergy etc.) than from strangers.