Children's Books discussion
Banned Books: discussions, lists
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Discussion of censorship, equity, and other concerns.
Interesting news and it's about time too."Federal Government Investigates Granbury ISD Superintendent's Order to Remove LGBTQ Books from School Libraries
Title IX has prohibitions against discriminating on the basis of sex, gender and sexual orientation"
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/car...
Another community in Texas has sadly decided to privatize their library. "HUNTSVILLE, Texas (KBTX) -The Huntsville City Council voted 6-3 in favor of privatizing and outsourcing its public library operations.
Tuesday’s decision comes after concerns were raised throughout the year about banned books and LGBTQ displays at the Huntsville Public library.
A pride display at the library was removed in August and in October, concerns were raised after a Huntsville police officer was seen behind the checkout desk in what was believed to be an attempt to remove certain books. During this time the City Librarian was also placed on leave.
City leaders, including the city manager and police chief, have declined our multiple requests to discuss these matters in more detail, but documents attached to Tuesday’s city council agenda say a change in operations is needed to improve day-to-day operations at the library and would help reduce costs by $750,000 over a 10-year period.
...
ews 3 at Six Weekday EXTENDED(Recurring)
Dozens of Huntsville residents voiced their concerns during Tuesday’s city council meeting about the outsourcing to Library Systems & Services, LLC, a Maryland-based private for-profit company that manages municipal libraries on an outsourced basis.
”This is a form of censorship that’s going on and that it’s going on behind our backs,” said one resident. “This is a public library. If it’s public, then the public should have a chance to vote on this and we need to get a lot more information.”
“Like many others, we’ve been dealing with a series of issues in our library and some of those other cities have simply resorted to defunding their libraries and closing them,” said another resident. “I don’t think that’s the option that we want to discuss.
Huntsville Ward 1 Councilwoman Daiquiri Beebe released a personal statement in opposition to the privatization of the public library.
“I am not in support of losing our dedicated Huntsville library employees or allowing an outside firm to determine how our beloved, local library is run. I will speak up for that viewpoint tonight at the council meeting,” said Beebe.
Other residents voiced their concerns, not over banned books or displays but about staff and the library’s contents.
“To a genealogist, weeding is a very concerning term because you’re oldest out-of-print books are genealogy’s most valuable resources, they’re irreplaceable and they’re more valuable than recent publications,” said one Walker County resident.
“Many of the employees are long-time staff members who know our community and have served for many years providing programming needs suited to the needs expressed by their patrons,” said one Walker County resident.
Many residents expressed that the move to make the decisions was rushed and would have preferred that it be tabled until a later date but the council declined that option and voted to approve the contract with LS&S services.
Changes at the Huntsville Public Library are expected to take place in January."
https://www.kbtx.com/2022/12/21/hunts...
This is deeply concerning. This means they can choose to fire anyone they don't consider qualified to do their job, i.e. a youth services librarian who orders LGBTQ+ books or books about other marginalized people, etc. etc. Public libraries are for EVERYONE. You don't have to look at it, read it or check it out for your family but understand that a community is made up of people, who just like you, want to feel validated and accepted for who they are and learn that their challenges can be overcome because it's been done before by others in similar circumstances.
Elsewhere in Texas, in Crawford County, public library officials have relocated books about homosexual, transsexual lifestyles to keep them out of reach of unsupervised children after concern was voiced by several residents, books with alternative lifestyle narratives opposed by a Christian group, The River Valley Elders.The top two tenets of the Elders is to “encourage and seek to establish Biblical values in all areas of civil government and economic systems,” and, “Draft civil laws which reflect a Biblical worldview, Judeo-Christian values and ethics.”
The concern over books was initially raised by Dr. Jeffrey Hamby, a Van Buren family physician, and his wife, Tamara Hamby, in a letter to the Quorum Court and Crawford County Judge, dated Nov. 10.
“We are concerned about the agenda that is being pushed by the Van Buren Public Library, aiming education of alternative lifestyles to prepubescent children. We have friends and employees that choose to live alternative lifestyles that we love dearly. We do not agree with that lifestyle but acknowledge their right to live the way they choose to live. We are not trying to infringe on those rights in any way. Our issue is with the constitutional rights of parents and our religious liberties being infringed upon by this progressive woke ideology normalizing and equating homosexual and transsexual lifestyles with heterosexual family units,” the letter said. “And doing this without parental consent or the ability to opt out. They have purchased, with taxpayer money, several books about alternative lifestyles that are aimed at prepubescent children. Some of these books are available in board book form which tells you the age they are targeting.”
"The letter continued by stating that there was a public display in the library with the books that “represents an agenda to indoctrinate our community but especially our children with this content.”
Crawford County Judge Dennis Gilstrap said the key in all the discussion of the books was compromise, never censorship. Justice of the Peace Raymond Harvey said the issue is a hot topic, and though he does not agree with pulling the books completely, he does agree with the decision to move the books into the “adult” area where children will not have access to them without parents specifically wanting them to see them.
“We don’t want 9 or 10 or 11-year-olds to be able to walk to the library, go in and just see them,” Harvey said. “If parents want to get the books for their kids, then that’s their decision.”
“Compromise is the word they were going for. The people are the ones who approve the millage that funds the library. We have to keep the community in mind.”
Van Buren Library Director Deidra Grzymala said she believes everyone is reaching a compromise and the books have been moved to their own section at each of the Crawford County Library System’s five libraries.
Censored books include:
The Big Book of Pride Flags
Cinderelliot: A Scrumptious Fairytale
Uncle Bobby's Wedding (LGBTQ content is incidential to the story and neglibile).
Bye Bye, Binary
Mommy, Mama, and Me
https://talkbusiness.net/2022/12/craw...
[why are there unsupervised children in the library in the first place? and this Christian group needs to reread the Consitution if they think their rights are being infringed upon. Nowhere does it say Christians ONLY have freedom of religion and it was not intended nor implied by the founding fathers. ]
More news culled from Book Riot:“The Polk County School Board on Tuesday delayed approving the purchase of 37,000 books for the libraries of two new elementary schools that are being built after conservative citizens complained that they did not have enough time to review all of the books before the scheduled vote.”
In West Virginia, Bonus parent is mad that a book about Ruby Bridges doesn’t align with her Christian values.
"So, they want to ban it – because they want to ban LGBTQ+ youth, erase them, cast them out. This book, in their minds, should be banned simply because it presents a human being who lives differently than the protesters.” (about individuals trying to ban The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives from Cheyenne Public Schools (Wyoming). )
Greater Essex County District School Board (Windsor, Ontario) is pushing back against demands to list all books in the library on the school’s website because it creates a slippery slope.
In Pierre, South Dakota, a couple of parents are mad about the use of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian in high school classrooms.
The mother of a Harlem Middle School [Evans, Georgia] student has filed a 323-page lawsuit against members of the school board, a teacher, and a principal over what she says is a violation of her parental rights and a book that she claims does not belong on the shelves of school libraries. Drama
South Central Regional Libraries in Manitoba, Canada, are hearing from folks... calling sexual education books “pornography.”
Another parent group, named the Mama Bears of Forsyth (Georgia), won't name the books they want to ban but will happily read out loud explicit passages. The passages did not include any description of the full book, characters, themes, titles or authors.https://www.forsythnews.com/news/educ...
In Maine School District 52, a committee has been formed to review the graphic novel Gender Queer: A Memoir and evaluate its appropriateness for high school students after a challenge form was been submitted by a Maine School Administrative District 52 parent.
https://www.sunjournal.com/2022/12/08...
Closer to my area, "A small number of parents and community members spoke against aspects of the Concord-Carlisle High School (CCHS) book offerings and curriculum during the December 6 Regional School Committee (RSC) meeting.... the grooming argument... blah blah
parent asked the RSC to revisit the book review process; review criteria for acceptable books; provide accurate descriptions of books to parents; and allow parents to “opt their children into the access to these books.”
Carlisle resident and former librarian Katalin Egri asked the RSC and administration, “How do you justify availablity of [pornographic] material to our students—material that would make the streetwalkers in the combat zone blush?” She asked for access to all “teaching material you are using on sex education and gender ideology education in every class and every level.” Egri’s husband Robert Egri also addressed the RSC, suggesting alternative ways to teach science, literature, and math.
She went on to suggest that some literature choices were “intended to destroy the fundamental ideals of race, gender, and identity and destroy the idea of the nuclear family.” Gee criticized the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) goals in Hunter’s strategic plan saying “diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging is the new code word for Critical Race Theory. The school board is deliberately trying to hide their curriculum to further devalue morality.” She added that students are being taught to be ashamed of their “white race.”
Gee's statement claimed that the K-12 program is teaching children that they should be ashamed of their “white race” and said, “This new program is teaching our children that everyone can be whoever they want to be and act as they wish without consequence. Our public school system is teaching our kids that it is normal to meow or have multiple pronouns in order to fill this void and confusion that they have created amongst our young generation.” In addition, Gee wrote, “Critical comments by students should be taken in a friendly spirit. Restore the values of individuals. Stop indoctrinating our children. We need to go back to basics and start teaching our kids again that the process of reading, math, and science, and all, to be good and successful people.”
After listening to the comments from members of the audience, Carlisle resident Rachel Freed said over Zoom that she was “deeply appalled by what I’ve heard tonight.” Describing herself as a “woman of color” and an expert on diversity, equity, and justice education whose children will attend CCHS, she thanked the RSC and administration for their work to build belonging. She stressed that DEIB is not the same as Critical Race Theory and said, “Helping children recognize their own identities is critically important to community health and wellness. It is also critical to building belonging, love, and acceptance in our communities.” She added that schools, not parents decide on curriculum and concluded by saying, “I am glad that we can finally wake up and see how racism persists in our communities, how discrimination against people because of their sexual orientation and identity is prevalent.”
[This is a wealthy, primarily White community]
All Boys Aren't Blue
Tricks
https://www.carlislemosquito.org/inde...
The latest from Georgia... objection to the children's book Was I in Mama's Stomach, Too? "designed for children ages 3 to 6 to learn about sex and how babies are made – but it contains graphic drawings of naked men and women having intercourse.As a teacher, mother, and grandmother, Lanel Williams is passionate about education, but in a way that is age-appropriate for little ones to understand.
“[Kids] don’t have any experience. They don’t have the knowledge to understand the words, except ‘feel good.’ And even then, the correct terminology, you know, you grow up differently. Different people have different names for the different parts of your body,” she said.
Williams told the manager at Ollie’s Bargain Outlet that the book needed to be removed from the store. The manager responded, saying he would look into it, and ultimately pulled the book from the store’s shelves."
https://www.ky3.com/2022/12/22/how-fa...
Also by the same author, My Body is Growing: A Guide for Children, Ages 4 to 8
https://thepostmillennial.com/childre...
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Um how else are babies made? If you want your kid to think the stork brings babies or what have you, don't show them the book! Also, bookstores and libraries are not playgrounds for kids to run around unsupervised grabbing things off shelves. Neither are librarians and booksellers babysitters expected to look after your child. Pulling the book is censorship and wrong.
This author appears to be German and attitudes towards sex and nudity are far less puritanical there, as they are in most parts of the western world.
"The Abilene (TX) Public Library Board on Monday tabled taking action on a list of of contested library materials received by the board, while a group of residents showed up again to complain about what they perceive as sexually-related materials that could be accessed by minors.The books in question were submitted through Sept. 30, board president Clint Buck said, reading a prepared statement from the review committee that consists of Buck and library board members Denise Moore and Joe Specht.
From six people, the library received 30 "reconsideration" requests in the time period, Buck said. Four requests duplicated those of another petitioner, dropping the total to 26 titles, Buck said.
The six petitioners "collectively read in their entirety six" of the 26 books, he said.
"As a result, petitioners were, by and large, unable to articulate any contextual understanding for the sentences and or snippets they relied on in their respective reconsideration requests," Buck said. "The members of the special review committee endeavored to consider each title in its entirety."
The review committee specifically focused attention on 14 physical books owned by the Abilene Public Library. Books contested by readers are pulled from the shelves of the library system, pending final action by Abilene's city manager.
The committee conducted five meetings to meet with four individual petitioners, Buck said.
Petitioners' requests for the titles varied, from removing a book from the shelves of the library system altogether, to reclassifying a book from young adult fiction to adult fiction, to creating a "specially segregated section for books specifically identified," Buck said.
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They targeted the need to serve as watch guards for children's innocence and the need to protect them from materials that appeal to prurient interest or against what they see as prevailing community standards, specifically informed by Christian faith.
Carolyn Walden, who said she had lived in Abilene for 50 years, echoed others when she said she was "here to speak on behalf of innocent children who may fall into a moral trap" by browsing the library.
"I have a keen appreciation from the free flow and exchange of ideas in a free society," Walden said. "However, the issue of pornography is not about mutual ideas. It is a moral issue and a perversion of what nature and nature's God tells us about human sexuality."
Such standards are written by God, not just in stone by in individual human consciences, she said, arguing that boundaries are put in place not to "restrict our freedom, but rather to protect us."
"I am here to defend the innocent from moral danger," she said, adding "if the gay/trans community wants to educate others regarding their sexual practices, they are free to start their own rooms and bookstores in this free society."
....
The city manager, Cheryl Sawyers said the United States is a free country, "given to us by the Constitution of the United States."
"The First Amendment allows us to have freedom of religion and freedom of speech," Sawyers said. "And because we collect taxes in the way that we do, that means that any type of person in Abilene, whether they have the same religion or the same thoughts or the same morals or whatever, can have access to books that they enjoy."
Sawyers said she disagreed with a single group of parents and others who have taken up the cause against certain books, noting they do not speak for all Abilene residents.
"There's clearly not 124,000 people in this room," she said. "Having a group of people get up and then preach one specific part of religion does not speak for the entire whole of the city of Abilene."
The library supports the right of individuals to access information, no matter if it may be considered controversial, unorthodox or unacceptable to others, Buck said.
What the committee determined:
∎ Reclassify some young adult books as adult, including a five-book series "A Court of Thorns and Roses," by Sarah J. Maas, and the books "Damsel" by Elana K. Arnold and "Flamer" by Mike Curato.
∎ Several juvenile and young adult books were shelved appropriately within the APL's collection, including "The Moon Within" by Aida Salazar, "Foul is Fair" by Hannah Capin, "Sold" by Patricia McCormick, a book about sex trafficking mentioned by some speakers, and "Yolk" by Mary H.K. Choi.
∎ Other books in question are available only in electronic format, The library system is developing a limited-access juvenile card that would restrict such titles, among others, from being checked out by minors. Those requests include: "My Body is Growing: A guide for 4-to-8 year olds," by Dagmar Geisler, "Bumped" by Megan McCafferty, "Burned" and Crank" by Ellen Hopkins," "Lawn Boy" by Jonathan Evison and "What Girls are made of" by Elana K. Arnold.
∎ Books already classified as adult, and therefore requiring no further action, were: "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison, "All Boys Aren’t Blue"by George M. Johnson, "This Book is Gay" by Juno Dawson, "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut, "Queer: A Graphic History" by Meg-John Barker and illustrator Jules Scheele, "Red Hood" by Elana K. Arnold, "Red, White, and Royal Blue" by Casey McQuiston and "You Too?" by Janet Gurtler.
∎ Relocating the graphic version of "The Handmaid's Tale" from the Mockingbird Lane branch to the main branch downtown.
∎ Two books requested for removal are not owned or offered by the library - "Two Boys Kissing," by David Levithan, and "Lolita," by Valdimir Nabokov.
https://www.reporternews.com/story/ne...
A nice interview with Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out editor Susan Kuklin from NPR. She explains why she wrote the book- to educate and help people empathize with LGBTQ+ teens.https://www.npr.org/2022/12/21/114310...
A librarian from the Patmos Library in Jamestown, Michigan rips apart conservatives who threatened her over LGBTQ+ books. "The librarian described during a board of trustees meeting how she reached her “breaking point” when safety concerns and threats to staff forced the library to close early."
"'Why did we close last week? I’ll tell you: We have a breaking point,” the employee said. “We have been threatened. We have been cursed.'
She said she’s been working five or six days a week because the library hasn’t been able to hire anyone. The librarian explained how she feels she can’t bring her children into town because of hateful signs calling librarians “paedophiles”.
'How dare you, people! You don’t know me,” she said. “You don’t know anything about me.'
The librarian detailed being “threatened” and “cursed on the phone”, saying the “horrible” experiences made her regret even moving to the town.
“We broke. Deal with it. We’re human,” she said. “I’m tired, and I’m tired of all of you.”
She continued: “I moved to this town two and a half years ago, and I regretted it every day for the last year.
“This has been horrible. I didn’t know people could be like this. I wasn’t raised this way.”
The librarian said she is “everything you are” as she is “Catholic” and “Christian”, but she shouted that she hasn’t heard the messages about how “God loves all of us” from the furious people protesting the library.
“I was taught to love your neighbour as you love yourself, no matter what they’re like — that God loves all of us,” she shouted. “That’s not what I hear every day, not from you.”
“It was one threat too many, one accusation too many and alls we do is come in here and serve you day after day after day. You’re welcome,” she said as she walked off."
https://www.thepinknews.com/2022/12/2...
Essay on book banning by Jerry Craft posted to NPR today.https://www.npr.org/2022/12/28/114495...
Highlights:
"If you are a parent or a caregiver and your kid reads a book and identifies with the antagonist (you know, the bad guy), then you have not done your job as a parent."
"what so many of today's protesting parents and politicians seem to forget is that most kids are kind and empathetic. Most kids root for the underdog. Most kids cheer for the heroes to succeed no matter who they are. ....
It's the adults who say that books like mine are designed to make white kids feel ashamed of themselves. But nothing could be further from the truth."
"Think of many of the classic movies that we watched in our younger days, such as Avatar, Shrek, and ET. ... humans are the bad guys. We all cheered for the large blue aliens, a very big green troll, and a little extraterrestrial--characters who would scare us to death in real life. But there are no protests from parents who claim that these movies make their kids feel guilty to be human."
"The parents and politicians who fight to ban books like mine will never entertain the idea that our books help kids who feel like outsiders see that they are not alone. They will never see the humor, or the love, that we pour into our pages.
Instead, they invent things that never actually happen in some of the books that they work so hard to ban."
"Meanwhile, when I was a kid, I don't recall any adult ever "protecting me" from the fact that all of the characters who looked like me did nothing but suffer. Most of the Black stories were about the struggle for civil rights, or gang life, or police brutality. Or being enslaved. But I guarantee that when my next book, School Trip, comes out in April that there will be people who won't want to share the book with their students because they "won't be able to relate" to kids of color spending a week in Paris. Which is actually a lot more realistic than a kid thinking that they can be a wizard! Or a cool vampire. Or single-handedly bring down an evil regime in our inevitable dystopian society."
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https://www.npr.org/2022/12/28/114495...
Highlights:
"If you are a parent or a..."
Great article, and at the very least, ANYONE challenging a book should have their names made public.
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Honestly, trying to show Louisa May Alcott as transgender is in my opinion both anachronistic and also denigrates what Alcott achieved with Little Women and how far avant garde for the 19th century the novel was.
A lot of people read Jo as queer and identify strongly with her. I don't read Jo as queer but Louisa herself, it's hard to tell. She DID identify with boys more than girls but was that rebelling against the gender norms of her time or something deeper? She wouldn't have the language to identify as Trans or non-binary, what historians are now calling "queer". When Jo states “I just wish I could marry Meg myself!” All that means is she wants to keep Meg in the family and not lose the sisterhood. Jo isn't ready to grow up and break up the sisterhood.
I'm in agreement with Dr. Stryker, University of Arizona scholar, quoted in the original NYT piece, who argued "[I]t is possible to recognize the plain fact of Alcott’s identification with manhood without minimizing the impact of “Little Women” on women’s lives and literature. “We can all recognize Lou Alcott in many different ways,” said Dr. Stryker. “We don’t have to turn it into a pissing contest or a turf war.”
Go students!When Adults Banned Their Books, These Teens Fought Back By Organizing.
In Nixa, MO students are educating themselves on how to support their favorite books and speak out against book banning after a dozen books were challenged and ultimately restricted.
“We showed up to school board meetings, we spoke at those meetings, we tried to have a presence in school. We discussed it with students, and the overwhelming consensus was that the book should stay in the library,” Meghana Nakkanti said. “Because ultimately, it’s about choice. And so we all kind of banded together to help make sure that we could at least try to keep books in our library. But you know, it’s been kind of a difficult road.”
Students like Nakkanti are part of a generation whose personal lives—from the expression of their gender through their bathroom choices to the literature they want to read—have increasingly become a vehicle for politicians and other hyper-partisan adults to grandstand about their own values. In response, like many teens before her—whether it be the March for our Lives students or the climate change movement started by Greta Thunberg—Nakkanti has been pushing for collective action.
Nakkanti says that she and her peers are uninterested in the larger political dimensions surrounding the book bans, whether it’s identity politics or political agendas. But as the country’s divided views on politics translate into local politics, students like her are finding ways to lend support, both emotional and tactical, to one another.
........
The students had thoroughly researched the books in question before they came to the meeting. They had spoken to more than 340 Nixa students who were also opposed to the restrictions, studied lawsuits involving similar bans, and put together a petition that garnered hundreds signatures in about a week. They had read and studied several of the books that adults wanted to remove from libraries and noted that in many of the books only a fraction of the pages—13 out of 320 pages in Homegoing, and only four pages in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home—contained the kind of content that the adults seemed concerned about. When the time came, the students spoke about how they related to the characters in the books and how the themes in these books helped them “find who we are, and can allow us to better understand others’ ideas and perspectives,” one student wrote in a speech...
Brown said she was disappointed by how many parents said they were intent on protecting children while simultaneously dismissing what the students had to say. She recalled standing in the back of the room, next to the adults who were in favor of the book bans, overhearing every disparaging word.
....
Several supporters of the book bans pushed for harsher punishments for distributing books with explicit content, with attendees suggesting jail time for librarians and school officials for exposing children and teens to explicit content. There even were discussions about putting school librarians on national registries.
“If the four Nixa employees on this committee voted to keep these books on the shelves, you belong on a national registry … I’d like to call for the resignation of the Nixa High School librarian,” parent Carissa Corson said, per the News-Leader.
“It was, of course, horrifying to hear these things,” Nakkanti said. “But we had to remember to kind of ground ourselves and realize that not only is it not the most prevalent opinion […]. And we were just going to ignore those ridiculous arguments. We were going to focus on the core of the issue, which is student access to books and that we should always have that access.”
“I’m terrified of the number [of banned books] increasing,” 17-year-old student Alex Rapp told Defector. “There’s just so many when you think of like classics [that] can be threatened by the umbrella term ‘sexually explicit content.’”
Incensed by that May school board meeting, Rapp has begun mobilizing more students. Alongside Nakkanti and Brown, Rapp keeps an eye on upcoming school board meetings and is trying to rally the student body to attend, though he has noticed many of his peers are discouraged by the latest announcement restricting access to more books. One promising sign, though: Rapp, now a senior, was heartened by the number of freshmen joining the protest against the book ban.
They’re not alone. Students at Nixa High are now increasingly informed by a national network of teen activists. Nakkanti joined the Intellectual Freedom Teen Council, a group of teenagers from across the country who are working to protect access to books in their home states. The program is run through the Brooklyn Public Library’s Books Unbanned program, which allows children and young adults from the ages of 13 to 21 to register for a digital Brooklyn Library card and check out ebooks.
....
According to Higgins, the teens who were working with the library on the Books Unbanned program started meeting with other teens whom they found through the program. Those conversations about the impact of book bans led to the creation of the Intellectual Freedom Teen Council, which meets monthly over Zoom.
Teens from Oklahoma to New York and back to Missouri have joined the council to exchange stories about successfully reinstating books, as well as the struggle to win back banned titles. And as Nakkanti’s network grew, she reached out to other teens across the country, including the Vandegrift High School Banned Book Club (or VHS Banned Book Club) in Austin, Texas, which has been running a book club around banned books since last fall and has provided information for others looking to organize their own book club.
....
The teens are now trying to find ways to distill their knowledge into tangible lessons to help others. One thing that seems to have worked in several districts is to see whether the parents have actually followed all the proper steps to get a book banned in accordance with local policies. Several students were able to reinstate access to specific books when they noted that adults had “messed up” during the submission process, Nakkanti said.
They are also trying to galvanize the information about local bans into a centralized place to give other students a leg up on this kind of research. Nakkanti hopes that these kinds of materials will help other students not feel “as alone or as confused or as lost […] in this process.”
When many of the teens involved in these networks first heard of the book bans, they were often caught off guard and unaware that many efforts to bar access from books had been underway for months. Organizing has been a way of reclaiming agency in a conversation around book bans from which they have been largely excluded and they hope to keep growing their networks and sharing their knowledge. They want other teens to replicate their efforts and feel less isolated as they take on the challenge of keeping access to library books.
“That’s been really cool,” Nakkanti said, “to see how small change can ripple into something much larger.”
https://defector.com/when-adults-bann...
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When Adults Banned Their Books, These Teens Fought Back By Organizing.
In Nixa, MO students are educating themselves on how to support their favorite books and speak out against book ..."
This is great, but I do fear that these students might end of getting expelled or even arrested (and I do hope that they are willing to accept this and to keep doing what they are doing).
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I do not consider Jo as being Lesbian (but I also would not have an issue with Jo being Lesbian) and same with Louisa May Alcott. I do however have problems considering either Jo March or her author, or Louisa May Alcott as being a transgender man.
Good for the people of Queens! They stood their ground in support of a drag queen story hour in spite of that terrorist group I won't deign to mention. Allison Marino, president of the board of "Drag Story Hour," said the event went on uninterrupted, with the performing drag king, Oliver H, reading “We Don't Eat Our Classmates” “Don't Touch My Hair!” and “‘'Twas the Night Before Pride.”
https://gothamist.com/news/drag-story...
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You know if either the police or parents are too ignorant to understand that teenagers and in particular Black teenagers are indeed sometimes and far too often harassed and beaten by police "officers" that is their problem but by banning All American Boys this becomes everyone's problem and democracy and reading choices, not to mention enlightenment are eroded and destroyed.
I missed this one from The Northampton (PA) Area School District (NASD) :"The NASD school board unanimously voted to table a donation of dozens of books from The Conscious Kid , a non-profit organization focused on equity and promoting healthy racial identity development, after parents complained during their July 19th meeting. Kim Bretzik was one of 10 parents/grandparents to object to the donation stating, “The Conscious Kid uses Marxist critical race theory. Just like the ‘No Place for Hate’ program, Conscious Kid is not an ally for all.” Despite not reading any of the books, Grandparent Shirley Arnold remarked “Those books will not help our children. There’s no reason to be segregating the world anymore."
In spite of positive feedback, the school superintendent sort of caved in:
"School board president David Gogel stated that the book donations complied with NASD Instructional Materials policy. Nicholas Woodward spoke out in support of the donations, observing that “just as silence condones bullying, ignoring differences in our community makes people feel overlooked and pushed away.” Many other parents continued to object to the donated books, calling them “divisive,” “racist,” and “socialist.” Doug Vaughn spoke against the donation because of what he called The Conscious Kid’s “Marxist agenda.” He said, “I wouldn’t accept a gift from Stalin, Hitler, I don’t care what it was, because of who they are and the motivation for why they might be giving us a gift.”
Board member Mentzell said he researched The Conscious Kid and found nothing along the lines of what Vaughn, Bretzik, Arnold, and others alleged. “I took it upon myself to read everything about The Conscious Kid organization,” he said. “I didn’t find any reference to Marxism.” Mentzell made a motion for “the administration to pursue those resources, which include the books mentioned on the July 19 agenda, plus other similar resources.”
The board unanimously approved the motion. Superintendent Kovalchik then parsed the board’s action this way: “We’re not accepting the books, but are to go out and address diversity."
https://www.marshall.edu/library/bann...
Floridians have lost their minds. School librarians DO have specialized training- it's called a Masters in Library and Information Studies (Master of Library Science) and it includes all of the things mentioned in this new training program! Florida librarians are now required to attend specialized training on new state rules.
https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2...
Duval County Florida schools now deny the book ban on the Essential Voices Classroom Libraries collection purchased in 2021. The list MERELY includes many titles that must be reviewed to ensure they are grade-level appropriate!https://news.wjct.org/first-coast/202...
Duval County is keeping 73 of the 176 books! 47 titles are being returned to the distributor. Twenty-six others will remain in storage, awaiting further state guidance! Among the rejected titles are a book about Martin Luther King Jr. intended for fourth graders; a biography of Rosa Parks for second grade classrooms; a first grade Berenstain Bears book about God; and multiple titles including LGBTQ+ characters and families. District staffers are sending the rejected books back to the distributor, Perfection Learning, for exchange. https://jaxtoday.org/2022/12/22/duval...
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Kirk Cameron Rebuffed by Libraries
The Growing Pains actor has a new children’s book entitled As You Grow, which ce..."
Thank you for sharing your concern. As you see below, there is more to the story, but on the face of it this would look problematic.
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But all libraries that are funded by the public should serve *all* members of the public with diverse holdings and programs. Christians and Muslims, 'queer' & indigenous and curious, everyone deserves the freedom to read and to have a safe place to hang out & to converse about, should they choose, issues that concern them.
If we moderate our tone, we can be a safe place right here.
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But all libraries that are funded by the public should serve *all* members of the pu..."
I agree, but it does seem that some (and increasingly more) parents want to monitor and control what ALL children are reading and it does feel as though often even one complaint can get a book removed and censored.
Of course, if you are teaching a class of say twenty or thirty students and a group of parents have complained (or even one annoyed parent has complained) about the books you will be reading and discussing in the classroom and are demanding not only alternative assignments etc. for their children but also that the for them problematic books will not be read and discussed when their children are present in class, the whole dynamic of the classroom then changes and you do automatically end up with public censorship, as you as the teacher might be forced to not read the book or the books in question in class if one or more parents are complaining. So saying that parents should only have the right to monitor and control their own children's reading, yes, that does on the surface make sense and probably works well enough at home. But with regard to school and the classroom, parents demanding that their children not be reading certain books often will in my opinion affect the entire class and all students if the books are actually supposed to be collectively covered and discussed by the students and their teacher.
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Kirk Cameron was allowed to rent a meeting room and read his book/preach to crowds in two separate locations. According to some reports, he's accused of exaggerating crowd size and proselytizing his own brand of hate to crowds who misunderstand his message. I haven't found a verified news source I trust for the actual facts though. I'll have to check the actual library sites to see what they say. In today's news, verified by several news sources, Florida is purging LGBTQ+ books in response to the "Don't say gay" bill.
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Article excerpts:
"According to DeSantis, the scope of the bill is limited and only prohibits "sexual instruction" directed at young students. "When you actually look at the bill and it says 'no sexual instruction to kids pre-K through three,' how many parents want their kids to have transgenderism or something injected into classroom instruction?" DeSantis said. "It's basically saying for our younger students, do you really want them being taught about sex? And this is any sexual stuff."
Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.
Conservative media outlets echoed DeSantis' argument. The Wall Street Journal editorial board, for example, argued the law would have "no immediate effect" because "sexual orientation and gender identity is not something that is being taught in grades K-3." The editorial board said the bill was limited to "classroom instruction.”
But despite these protestations, Florida schools are using the law to justify the erasure of LGBTQ people. Public records obtained by Popular Information through the Florida Freedom to Read Project reveal that several Florida schools have already removed books with LGBTQ characters from their libraries, citing the Parental Rights in Education Act. Further, training materials produced by the Florida Department of Education for librarians reveal that the DeSantis administration is encouraging this expansive interpretation of the law. "
Books such as And Tango Makes Three don't actually include any sexual instruction or sexual content at all.
In Seminole County, the banned books will now only be available only to 4th and 5th graders if a parent explicitly grants permission and picks the book up from the principal.
The article details how After the Parental Rights in Education Act was signed into a law, a group of LGBTQ students and their parents filed a lawsuit in federal court. The complaint alleges that the law violated "the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution." The plaintiffs allege "they have been subjected to a discriminatory educational environment that treats LGBTQ people and issues as something to be shunned and avoided, on pain of discipline and liability."
The article provides information on the suit citing arguments from both sides.
To support their argument, the plaintiffs cite the 1982 Supreme Court case of Board of Education v. Pico: In Pico, the court ruled that the First Amendment protects students’ “right to receive information and ideas.”
" lawyers representing DeSantis and the State of Florida argue that Pico does not apply. DeSantis' lawyers state that Pico applies to the availability of library books while the Parental Rights in Education Act applies only to classroom instruction."
https://popular.info/p/dont-say-gay-f...
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What is going on with libraries is horrible and especially since in many cases, the book banning frenzy is now moving from school libraries to public and even it seems to college and university libraries. And frankly, there should in my opinion be NO book banning and no political interference at all allowed at the college and university level.
I have had (as a university lecturer) a few run ins with irate parents demanding that I not teach certain "controversial" pieces of modern German literature and I basically told them that my classes are for adults and that (guess what) college/university students are adults. That was basically enough in Canada (at the time), but I am afraid that if I were teaching for example in states like Florida, Texas, Tennessee and other book banning happy states, even at the college level, I might soon have to deal with the morality police and/or have to coddle and cater to helicopter parents (even though college students are supposed to be adults and should be handling and able to handle controversial and even unpleasant and horrifying reading materials).
Interesting food for thought. Would would a perfectly inoffensive library actually look like? Book Riot: A Perfectly Inoffensive School Library.
https://bookriot.com/a-perfectly-inof...
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Book Riot: A Perfectly Inoffensive School Library.
https://bookriot.com/a-perfectly-inof......"
I was at first thinking that maybe the only books left in a library without potentially offensive materials could perhaps be the dated and old fashioned Fun With Dick and Jane tomes. But hold on, the book titles themselves would of course be offensive (as we all know that Dick's name is inappropriate and refers to a phallus).
So yeah, a library without ANY books that might in some way be offensive, would basically mean a library with NO books at all.
No no Dick and Jane has gone away - too dated with hints of sexism and racism, I believe. This piece does ultimately end with 0 books in their inoffensive library.
Southern Indiana parents voice concerns after book including same sex marriage was read during library story time.https://www.wdrb.com/news/southern-in...
Calling for the librarian to be fired for reading Prince & Knight, which is, as she stated, no different from any other fairy tale like Beauty and the Beast, is ridiculous. Storytime is free and optional. Parents could have taken their children out if they objected that strongly.
LGBTQ+ people are not going away. They're people with thoughts and feelings, who love and want to be loved the same as anybody else. There's all kinds of people on this earth and we all have to share the planet. Why not teach your children to get along in the real world at a young age?
I personally have observed that kids are naturally loving and accepting. I would also tell these parents the same thing I told my niece when she first noticed her cousin with Down's Syndrome talked a little bit differently. "That's OK! That's what makes her special! Everybody's different! Wouldn't the world be boring if everyone was the same?" Her response was "Yeah! You're right!"
A NYC principal stands by her decision to NOT ban a book This Book is Gay, even pointing out the passage that states if this information makes you uncomfortable, skip this chapter and that we've all been taught heterosexual sex is the norm and that in and of itself is a form of homophobia. The book is funny and irreverent and teaches teens things they need to know rather than have them pick up misinformation on the streets or the internet.https://www.theblaze.com/news/middle-...
Another potential ban coming in rural PA"A Crawford County school district's plan to pass a sweeping ban on library books that they deem inappropriate or obscene, including books that deal with LGBTQ issues, has once again divided the rural community.
Introduced at its Dec. 8 meeting, the policy would prohibit any material with explicitly written, visual or visually implied depictions of sexual acts or simulations of such acts, as well as visual depictions of nudity with the exception of anatomical diagrams and classical works of art."
The usual arguments apply here:
false narratives about "grooming" and "sexualization" of children
erasing meaningful voices.
""What I read were stories about typical adolescents and the things that are happening to them in their daily lives, Teresa Barickman said. "These were not how-to manuals for sex or how to become gay or how to become trans."
The books contained words like sex, lesbian, trans and penis — words "our kids already know about and are talking about," Barickman said. "Being an adolescent is hard and confusing," she continued. "When our kids read these books, they see that they are not alone. Other kids their age are going through the same things. It validates what they are feeling. This is not a bad thing."
Barickman's daughter, Claire Barickman and fellow Saegertown student Camden Gjovik later urged the board to reconsider the proposed policy, saying that it violates students' rights and that parents, under the current policy, are allowed to prohibit the types of books their children check out.
"Some of us just want to see ourselves represented in these books, the same books that you deem inappropriate," Claire Barickman said. "These books cover many crucial topics for students and are representative of many groups throughout the district, covering topics of race, sex, gender identity and diverse backgrounds, which allow students to feel safe and seen."
Another opponent, C.J. Rose, a 2016 Saegertown High School graduate, said the ban disproportionately targets queer literature and LGBTQ students. Rose, who identifies as non-binary and bisexual, talked about the effect that such literature had growing up. Rose called it a "godsend."
Growing up, said Rose, "I wasn't allowed much time with electronics or social media or the internet in general. We didn't even have satellite TV most of my life, but I still knew. I knew as a very young child something was different about me. I knew my attractions were not the same as most, that how I conceive of myself was not considered normal. I lacked the proper words for it then. But with with time, with our society's progress, I learned the right ones."
School Director and Policy Committee Chairman David Valesky... In May, the Meadville Tribune reported that Valesky objected to a resource list of several books, including four that Valesky claimed "openly promote" the social justice group Black Lives Matter, which he referred to as a "hate group", is the sponsor of the policy change and has developed a list of 11 books in the Saegertown, Maplewood and Cambridge Springs junior-senior high schools libraries that he finds objectionable.
Nineteen Minutes
Beyond Magenta: Transgender and Nonbinary Teens Speak Out
Looking for Alaska
https://www.goerie.com/story/news/edu...
Catholic sex-ed textbooks discontinued following accusations of 'homophobic,' 'transphobic' contentPearson Canada has stopped publishing Fully Alive books, will stop supporting digital versions by March
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toront...
Students at Big Walnut HS (Ohio) walk out over proposed book ban“Looking For Alaska” is one of more than 20 books one member of the community wants removed.
More than 100 students at Big Walnut High School walked out in unison on Thursday in protest over a proposed book ban.
Supporters of the book's removal say author John Green's book, "Looking for Alaska" is not appropriate reading for students.
“We are telling the board that we want these books in our school we want them in our libraries we want them being taught to us,” said Isa Belle Carr, a student who led the walk-out.
Many parents are concerned that if Big Walnut bans this book, others will follow.
The call to ban the book, which the district said was an option students could choose from and was not required reading, prompted the school district to form a committee to look into the concern.
“When a book gets challenged, our practice in compliance with board policy is to create a committee to review the book," Superintendent Ryan McLane said in a written statement. "That committee consists of the assistant superintendent, building principal, the district's media specialist, a teacher who teaches the class, a representative of the Sunbury Community Library, and two parents of students currently in the class in which the book is being used.
"That committee then makes a recommendation to me. That recommendation was unanimous to allow Looking for Alaska to remain in our high school library as well as to be a curriculum resource in the high school English class. As a result, that was my recommendation to the board of education in November. As part of our district's policy, that community member had the right to appeal the decision to the board of education."
https://www.10tv.com/article/news/edu...
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“Looking For Alaska” is one of more than 20 books one member of the community wants removed.
More than 100 students at Big Walnut H..."
The students should also find out the names of those who want the book removed and protest in front of their houses.
In the Baltimore, Maryland Area; Boston, Massachusetts area, and Coquitlam, B.C., supporters braved protestors at Drag Queen story hours! I can assure you that my oldest niece went to a drag show with her family when she was little and she was not at all harmed. No children were harmed at either of these story hours either.https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/new...
https://globalnews.ca/news/9411397/dr...
https://www.tauntongazette.com/story/...
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Fall River fared a little better than Taunton in terms of protesters. More counter-protesters showed up than Neo Nazis. The Neo Nazis in attendance at the Taunton event sound very scary."The Fall River Pride Committee, which organized the event, only 10 or so protesters showed up at the event, while several hundred counter-protesters attended to show support for the drag queen storytime. "
I'm proud of the nearby communities for supporting these fun events.
https://www.tauntongazette.com/story/...
Kirk Cameron continues his Bible lesson storytime at the few libraries that will allow it but I still don't see a reliable news source for numbers in attendance. Indiana makes sense
North Dakota is the latest state to weigh a ban of "sexually explicit" library books.Books containing “sexually explicit” content — including depictions of sexual or gender identity — would be banned from North Dakota public libraries under legislation that state lawmakers heard arguments on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023.
The GOP-dominated state House Judiciary Committee heard arguments but did not take a vote on the measure, which applies to visual depictions of “sexually explicit” content and proposes up to 30 days imprisonment for librarians who refuse to remove the offending books.
Supporters of the bill said it would preserve children’s innocence and reduce their exposure to pornography.
But critics said the measure is “steeped in discrimination” and would allow government censorship of material that is not actually obscene.
“Nearly 50 years ago, the (U.S.) Supreme Court set the high constitutional bar that defines obscenity,” said Cody Schuler, an advocacy manager at the American Civil Liberties Union of North Dakota, who testified against the bill.
Obscenity is a narrow, well-defined category of unprotected speech that excludes any work with serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value, Schuler said. Few, if any, books have been deemed obscene, and the standard for restraining a library’s ability to distribute a book are even more stringent, Schuler added.
Library Director Christine Kujawa at Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library said the library has a book with two little hamsters on the cover. At the end of the book, the hamsters get married, and they are both male.
“It’s a cute book,” Kujawa said — but it would be considered pornography under the bill because the book includes gender identity.
Facing criminal charges for keeping books on shelves is “something I never thought I would have to consider during my career as a librarian,” Kujawa added.
In addition to banning depiction s of “sexual identity” and “gender identity,” the measure specifies 10 other things that library books cannot visually depict, including “sexual intercourse,” “sexual preference” and “sexual perversion,” — though it does not define any of those terms. The proposal does not apply to books that have “serious artistic significance” or “materials used in science courses,” among other exceptions.
The bill would allow prosecutors to charge any person who displays these materials at places that children visit with a class B misdemeanor. The maximum penalty is 30 days of imprisonment and a $1,500 fine.
https://apnews.com/article/politics-n...
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I think sex ed books fall under the category of scientific and what exactly is "sexual perversion"? That could mean all the books about LGBTQ+ people disappear from the shelves, which should be the crime.
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Books containing “sexually explicit” content — including depictions of sexual or gender identity — would be ba..."
Americans and their puritanism, but I bet explicit violence will be fine ...
What a joke!!
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Maybe I am being a bit of a fear mongerer here, but the implication of this (and that it is meant for public libraries) is really frightening and against intellectual freedom.
The fact is that children, that anyone can easily find much worse online, and that banning books is not only ridiculous but severely limits what the American anthem supposedly champions, freedom.
Manybooks wrote: "I guess with this North Dakota proposition, it would also mean that classic both English language and foreign language literature clearly meant for adult readers might not be allowed in public libr..."Possibly. It's open to interpretation and that's the problem. The law applies to minors so not Ph.D students or private colleges but yes Gov. De Santis in Florida replaced the board of a liberal college with his conservative minions.
Lots more scary censorship news today. I don't understand the hysteria about sex ed and puberty books. Don't they WANT their children to know what's happening to their bodies and how to be healthy and safe? They could be looking up truly obscene content online and they probably are. I'm sure any intelligent teen knows how to get around filters and parental controls.
"School librarians in Florida will have to undergo training on choosing, removing, and curating books for school and classroom libraries to comply with a state law passed last year.
They are prohibited from using any instructional materials that include critical race theory, culturally responsive teaching, social-emotional learning, social justice, “and any other unsolicited theories that may lead to student indoctrination are prohibited,” according to the training.
They also have to seek input from parents before buying books and have to defend their choices in case of objections."
"Librarians and education experts told Education Week that the training is going to contribute to self-censorship on the part of librarians, because they’re fearful of violating the rules. That, in turn, could lead to students losing access to diverse perspectives, especially historically marginalized students who find themselves represented by many of the banned books and instructional materials."
".... general principles for media specialists to consider while choosing new books, curating a collection for a classroom or library, and removing books. They include avoiding materials considered to be pornography and choosing age-appropriate books that reflect the “racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and cultural diversity of students.
But the training also requires media specialists to avoid material that says people are inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive; that anyone bears responsibility for past actions of their race or sex; and that anyone should feel “guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress” for actions committed in the past by members of the same race or sex."
...
"The proposed training emphasizes that “parental feedback is important and parents should be included in all aspects of choosing materials.”
All meetings held to select instructional materials have to be open to the public, including parents, students, and community members. Parents also have to be consulted before purchasing new library media materials, the training says.
Librarians should also be prepared to defend the educational value of the instructional material they choose in case there are any objections, the training says.
“The responsibility of the content of instructional materials lies with those that choose the materials,” according to the training. “Parents that are challenging or objecting to materials should not have to prove that those materials are objectionable.”
Every year, starting this July, superintendents are required to report to the state education department whether all librarians have undergone the training. Districts are also required to adopt procedures to permit a parent or resident to object to the adoption or use of any instructional material."
https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learn...
This is completely bonkers. They HAVE the necessary training. It's why they went to library school! They're not just random people off the street like these committees. The instructions are contradictory. What if the makeup of the student body is mostly Latino or Black as many public schools in Florida are? Yet books that are appropriate for that student body are not allowed. Then what? Are they only supposed to read books that white
wash history and contribute to feelings of not belonging and isolation? That leads to mental health issues, continued othering/racism and sexism/Antisemitism, etc. etc.- exactly the stuff these Moms for Liberty don't want their kids knowing about. So White Supremacy remains the default.
More on Florida"New state rules tell school librarians to ‘err on side of caution’ when picking books
Florida’s school librarians face new scrutiny, and even the threat of criminal prosecution, under a new state rule adopted Wednesday that urges them to “err on the side of caution” when selecting books for their campuses.
Ahead of the board’s vote, Orange County Superintendent Maria Vazquez said Tuesday that her district had pulled three books, all dealing with sex or sexual themes, from school libraries after reviewing the state’s new training for media specialists required under the new rule.
“Now that we have that,” she said, “the recommendation is those books be pulled.”
The Lake County school district said it has removed six novels because of concerns the books violated the new library law.
If Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed the legislation, and the state board want to protect parental rights and freedom “they would support policies and rules that allow parents to put restrictions on their own children while not limiting others,” said Stephana Ferrell, a founder of the Florida Freedom to Read Project, in a text.
But supporters say the new law, rule and training provide much-needed scrutiny of books in media centers and classrooms and more ways for parents to learn what is on school shelves.
“We have seen time and time again questionable and inappropriate material that has entered our schools,” said Paul Burns, deputy chancellor for educator quality at the Florida Department of Education, at Wednesday’s state board meeting.
He said the new required training for school media specialists will help ensure the “appropriateness” of books available in schools.
The board unanimously approved the rule after hearing from about 15 speakers, most representing conservative groups that wanted even stricter prohibitions and who complained the new rule contained a “loophole” that would allow some books with sexual content to be approved because they have literary merit.
The “loophole” was Florida’s law on pornography, which says in part that books with sexual content or nudity are considered pornography only if they are “without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.”
“Media specialists should always err on the side of caution when selecting materials,” says the narrator during the online training. “It is good practice to assess whether or not you as an adult making book selection decisions would be comfortable reading aloud the material in question in a public meeting. If you would not be comfortable reading the material in a public setting, then you should lean toward not making the material available in a public school library for children.”
The training also tells teachers they should be careful buying books that were removed or restricted in other school districts.....
elementary school teachers already were shutting down classroom libraries because the new rules apply to their collections and many found it onerous to catalog and scrutinize their collections, as required."
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...
Interesting discussion on why student voice should be central to school libraries.https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/60123/...
My parents didn't really know or care what I was reading in school because they trusted the educators to know what they were doing! My parents chose the school district because the public schools had a good reputation. The teachers didn't consider what the students wanted to read any more than consider what the parents wanted them to read. I think today's students need to read both the classics and books that are interesting and relevant to their lives today. Don't teach them reading is boring and not for them because they can't relate to the subject matter or characters.
More scary censorship news coming up on my Google News feed...Crawford County, Arkansas Public Library System.
The almost entirely new Crawford County library board, which oversees libraries in Van Buren and neighboring towns, is to consider a proposal March 14 that the board review the purchase and donation of all library books.
“Conservative Extremists have infiltrated our library board and are demanding they approve all library materials in order to keep LGBTQIA materials from children,” wrote the person who posted a video clip on TikTok from a recent board meeting.
The proposal by board chairwoman Tammi Hamby came during a Jan. 10 meeting as support for librarians and teachers in Arkansas plunges and as far-right outrage escalates over gay and transgender issues and any books about them. The board opted to table the measure until March as an unusually large audience for a library board meeting watched.
hairwoman Hamby said the meeting is to review the library system’s finances in 2022.
We’ll see how things go and hope we don’t encounter a defunding effort similar to the one that slashed tax funding for the libraries in Craighead County.
Hamby noted that the board had a relatively new director, Deidre Gazymala, and that four of the board’s five members, including herself, are new.
Asked if she was concerned about books dealing with transgender topics, Hamby said, “I’m not speaking to that.” She also declined to address whether she has any concerns about the way Gazymala is doing her job.
https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/20...
Portage Public Schools has removed “Push: A Novel” by Sapphire from the district’s general library collection after a community member's complaint. The librarian excuse for removing the book is general weeding since it hasn't been checked out very often and they don't remember why they bought it in the first place.
https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/...
In Berkley Co., S.C. - A complaint from a patron of a Lowcountry library led to several books getting taken off the shelves last week.
Recent concerns from residents have prompted Berkeley County Library officials to evaluate some of the books on their shelves. However, no books have been permanently banned or removed from public libraries, according to the officials.
One person who chose to remain anonymous says the library administration was asked to take down books that were listed under a “850 banned books” list. This list comes from Texas lawmaker Matt Krause.
In late 2021, part of Krause’s campaign was to investigate books that cover race, gender identity and sexual orientation in public schools.
bout slavery, and “The Cider House Rules” by John Irving that addresses topics about abortion.
Library officials do not specify what books are up for review, and they do not reference Krause’s list. Jenna-Ley Jamison, the county’s public information officer, says the books being reviewed are from the libraries’ general collection.
The Berkeley County Library System’s Board of Trustees did not discuss the topic at Tuesday night’s meeting.
“I’m not privy to what materials have been looked at or reviewed,” Jamison said. “I know the library is reviewing their collection at this time. I’m not sure of the subject matter or what that reconsideration request was from a citizen. I will say that no books and no materials at this time have been removed or trashed or anything like that in any way.”
Jamison says there’s no timeline of when these books will be back on the shelves as library officials are making a thorough review on all books before they make any decisions.
https://www.live5news.com/2023/01/18/...
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I would rather go to jail and lose my career than catering to historical parents deciding what I am allowed to teach.
I would consider listening to students but NOT to politicians, police officers, parents.
Good news/bad news from Valley City (North Dakota) Public LibraryLet's Talk About It: The Teen's Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human
is allowed to stay in the library, however, it's been moved from YA (15-25) to adults.
"The library first purchased the book in the spring of 2021.
From that time until the editor of the local newspaper wrote about it in the fall of 2022, the book had only been checked out two times.
Since then, the library's three copies of the book are usually all checked out.
The decision over where the book sits in the library is the final chapter. The library board will not discuss the book for the foreseeable future.
This is the first time in the library's 120-year history the library board moved a book due to public backlash."
https://www.inforum.com/news/north-da...
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Very disappointing decision! I SUSPECT some of that may also have happened in North Providence, Rhode Island, as there are several books intended for juveniles listed under Adult non-fiction. I don't know when that decision was made or why.
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...
To a certain extent but not entirely. The ones posting Anti-semitic flyers will be charged with something but the police don't always release information on how they deal with these protesters when they gather in public spaces and harass drag queen story hours, etc. I'm not giving them any clicks to find out. If a story appears in the local news or on my newsfeed from a reliable source, I look at it but I don't seek them out on purpose. Same with Moms for Liberty.