Children's Books discussion
Banned Books: discussions, lists
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Discussion of censorship, equity, and other concerns.
• Could the new state law in South Carolina undo the work done in Beaufort Public Schools, where most of the almost 100 books challenged were retained?https://www.islandpacket.com/news/loc...
• Several books in Citrus County Public Library (FL) were moved from the young adult area to the adult area. One book—Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts)—was banned, while three that were challenged are “missing.” Still others will remain where they belong. Again, this is a public libraryhttps://www.chronicleonline.com/news/...
Decisions have been made on more of the 26 books under review for their appropriateness in the young adult or juvenile section of the public library.
“Dear Mothman,” by Robin Gow and “Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out,” by Susan Kuklin, were moved from the young adult nonfiction section of the library and placed instead in the adult nonfiction, according to the county.
Eight books were deemed to be fine where they are, either in the juvenile or young adult section.
They include: “I Wish You All The Best,” by Mason Deaver; “Be Amazing: A History of Pride,” by Desmond Napoles; “Julian is a Mermaid,” by Jessica Love; “Ziggy, Stardust & Me,” by James Brandon; “Color Outside the Lines: Stories About Love,” by various authors; “Here’s To Us,” by Becky Albertalli; “Six Times We Almost Kissed (and One Time We Did),” by Tess Sharpe; and “Ophelia After All,” by Racquel Marie.”
Three other books – “Boy Meets Boy,” by David Levithan; “Two Boys Kissing,” also by David Levithan; and “Rainbow Boys,” by Alex Sanchez – have been missing from the library for years. They were either stolen or checked out and not returned. In any case, they will not be replaced.
Library Director Adam Chang recently removed the book “Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts)” from the shelves after determining it contained inappropriate material.
Chang pulled all 26 books for review after a citizen submitted a “request to reconsider,” asking library staff to determine if their content was inappropriate for placement in the juvenile or young adult sections.
“Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts)” was pulled last week from circulation from the young adults section after Chang determined it was “graphic and suggestive.”
This should not be allowed. Books about s--ual assault are banned from the schools too, right alongside any LGBTQ+ books
Some Pennsylvania school districts might be exempt from new Title IX regulations
https://www.post-gazette.com/news/edu...
Safeguards for queer and transgender students went into effect Thursday as part of new Title IX protections.
But based on months-long litigation from the conservative Moms for Liberty group, the government might not be able to enforce the rules in some Pittsburgh-area districts.
Locally, schools in the Baldwin-Whitehall, Fox Chapel and Shaler Area school districts in Allegheny County would be exempt from the protections based on the ruling, as well as Hempfield Area in Westmoreland and Seneca Valley in Butler.
That’s because those districts — along with hundreds across the country that enroll children of Moms for Liberty members, a self-proclaimed parent-rights group — were featured on a list submitted to a Kansas court which barred enforcement of the new Title IX rules in those schools.
But advocates say the ruling is moot for Pennsylvania districts on the list because the state already prohibits discrimination based on gender identity through the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.
“While the Title IX rule is enjoined, it really has no practical impact for schools because they have the same obligations under state law,” Kristina Moon, a senior attorney at the Pennsylvania-based Education Law Center, told the Post-Gazette Thursday.
Educators, others criticize book bans and ‘dark night of censorship’ in letter to DeSantishttps://www.yahoo.com/news/educators-...
More than 500 people, including educators, parents and best-selling author Jodi Picoult, signed a letter to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticizing state laws that led to a “dark night of censorship” in the state.
The letter released this week calls on DeSantis to “take concrete steps” to reverse some of the most prominent Republican-led education policies in recent history, including the laws often called the “Stop WOKE Act” and the “don’t say gay” bill.
The letter signers argued the laws “weaponized and demonized” diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and forced public schools to pull books from their shelves.
The letter comes after a July meeting in Orlando of more than 200 people worried about censorship in schools. Picoult delivered the keynote speech at the event, which organizers said was “the largest movement meeting of its kind,” and attendees and hundreds of others later signed the letter.
In response to one of the new laws, Orange County Public Schools reviewed books in classroom libraries and by December had pulled 673 books, including seven by Picoult, for fear they violated the law banning “s--ual conduct” in material available to students. The list included classics like “Madame Bovary” and “Paradise Lost” as well as best-selling novels.
“Discrimination and erasure must not be Florida’s future,” the letter said. “Public schools are and must remain a public good.”
The letter also noted one of Florida’s new laws ended up blocking the teaching of s-x education in some districts. That law, which heightened scrutiny of books on school shelves, required the state to review reproductive health curriculum — but the Department of Education never responded to school districts when they submitted their plans for review, the Orlando Sentinel reported last month.
OCPS and a few other districts skipped the lessons all together in the 2023-24 school year as a result.
DeSantis has called DEI “toxic” and said it really means “discrimination, exclusion, and indoctrination.” He has also said that claims of book banning were a “hoax” and that the legislation he signed rightly allowed parents to object to “obscene material” in schools.
His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter Thursday.
The letter said the new laws also meant Florida had inserted “religious perspectives, such as requiring lessons in Judeo-Christian values” into school curriculum and tried to “erase and distort the historical struggles for equality” of Black, Hispanic and LGBTQ people, among others.
“We are parents, horrified at the targeting of our children, furious over the ideological restrictions on their education and fed up with the political attacks on our community schools and the people dedicated to protecting access to them,” the letter said.
It added educators were “chilled into silence” because of Florida policies.
Mother points out ridiculousness of new library law that bans children from adult section-Child 11, walks into a library looking for Fellowship of the Ring after reading and loving The Hobbit. OMG it's in the restricted section for adults only! No problem, she can get her mom to give her permission and come with her. Nope, Mom has baby and baby is not allowed in the restricted section so 11 YO has to go ALONE into the adult section (with a librarian) to get her book. How is that "protecting the children?"
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-st...
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-Child 11, walks into a library looking for Fellowship of the Ring after reading and loving The Hobbit. OM..."
Absolutely silly and stupid, and anyone who agrees with this idiocy obviously has rocks instead of brains in their pointy heads, sigh. And yeah, if I were a kid, even though I have always tended to follow rules, in that case, I would simply run away from the librarian and illegally go into the restricted section without any guilt at all (but also, that mother should have done the same, it is time for affected and upset library patrons to engage in some major civil disobedience and to simply ignore these restrictions).
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-Child 11, walks into a library looking for Fellowship of the Ring after reading and loving The Hobbit. OM..."
Wow, and this is here in Idaho, which I'm not surprised given the new laws. I will say that I have not seen anything different in our local libraries, either the county library local branch or the neighboring city library. I have not seen any "restricted" section yet but I know it's early days. My kids have their own library cards already and they can use self-checkout so I'm not sure how there would be any restriction on them getting the material unless it's flagged in the catalog and won't check out on a youth card. Our cards are due for renewal later this month so I will see if there are any new hoops to jump through there if I need to approve anything further. If anything, the library seems busier than ever! The summer programs for kids are in full force and there's almost always at least a few kids in line to sign in for the summer reading prizes and check out books. When I stopped at the library mid-day during the week last week, I had to circle the parking lot twice to find parking! I would so love it if all this backfired and the libraries become more popular and beloved than ever I just really worry when just one or two people could spoil everything, make a librarian's life miserable, etc. and it's awful how the small town libraries are having to close. I hope the library staff are feeling loved and supported enough by most but some of these stories posted here are scary.
Good to know Kathryn! The statistics from Idaho are varied. Some libraries are forcing summer programs outdoors, some have restricted sections for adults only, some have NEW YA sections for 16+ and others are business as usual with special youth cards where kids can only check out materials from the children's section unless you give parental permission. https://idahocapitalsun.com/2024/07/1...
Personally I'd just wait and see. If I were a library director and knew my community and knew the challenges were from outsider agitators, I'd revise the challenge policy so ONLY people from the community could challenge books and they'd have to read it in full and provide a detailed reasoning of why they feel this book doesn't belong in the library. Any copy/paste from BookLooks would be ignored. Mediation with the offended patron would be offered as the first line of defense. (This IS an option some libraries are pursuing.)
Another nice story about My Guncle and MeBooks teach children about inclusion in nation divided by culture wars
https://www.ajc.com/news/books-teach-...
might be paywalled. It was free on the Google News app!
OklahomaWalters threatens 'rogue' school districts that don't embrace Bible mandate
https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/...
State Schools Superintendent Ryan Walters threatened to hold "rogue" public school districts accountable if they didn't incorporate the Bible as part of their curriculum. Walters made the statement during his opening comments at Wednesday's state Board of Education meeting in Oklahoma City.
Walters falsely claimed the districts that pushed back publicly against his biblical mandate were the same districts that successfully sued the Oklahoma State Department of Education over its attempt to challenge the books "The Glass Castle" and "The Kite Runner" in a school library. However, court records show that only one district − Edmond Public Schools − was involved in that lawsuit.
The other schools, at least a dozen of the state’s largest districts – Norman, Moore, Stillwater, Bixby, Deer Creek, Piedmont, Yukon, Jenks, Broken Arrow, Collinsville, Owasso and Tulsa – have publicly said they have no intention of altering their curriculum to incorporate Walters’ directive.
Edmond school officials have made no public announcement about the Bible mandate. Still, Walters doubled down, threatening those districts that didn't embrace the mandate. Walters, however, stopped short of saying what, exactly, would happen to those districts that didn't comply.
"You've seen some rogue administrators making comments to the press and so I wanted to address those," Walters said Wednesday morning. "What we've seen some districts, some of our worst acting districts, come out and say they are not going to teach history. They said they are not going to teach the Bible because they don't want that."
Walters, who continued to criticize Democrats and unnamed members of 'the left' for the pushback against his mandate, said 'the left might not like it and may be offended by it, but they cannot rewrite our history.'
"We will not allow it here in the state of Oklahoma," he said. Walters said districts that didn't include the Bible in their curriculum were indoctrinating kids. [?!] Without providing examples, he said those same districts "want p________phy in front of kids under the name of inclusivity but don't want the historical context of the Bible."
...
Walters countered that "just because they (a school district) doesn't like it, just because they are offended by it doesn't mean they won't do it. We will enforce the law and they will be held accountable. And in Oklahoma, the Bible will be used in the classroom and taught in its historical context," he said.
Based on comments to media outlets and letters sent to patrons, most of the districts that don’t plan to implement the directive have leaned on that principle of local control in making their respective decisions concerning curriculum. Most have said they will continue to follow the current set of state academic standards, approved by the Oklahoma Legislature.
“Adherence to this mandate is compulsory,” Walters said in a letter announcing the directive. “Further instructions for monitoring and reporting on this implementation for the 2024/25 school year will be forthcoming. Immediate and strict compliance is expected.”
In a five-page guidance document, issued in late July, Walters reiterated his demand: “Immediate and complete implementation of these guidelines for the 2024-2025 school year is required. This memorandum and the included standards must be provided to every teacher as well as providing a physical copy of the Bible, the United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Ten Commandments as resources in every classroom in the school district. These documents are mandatory for the holistic education of students in Oklahoma.”
....
The Center for Education Law also has issued a memorandum to Oklahoma school districts calling Walters’ mandate invalid under state law. That legal firm earlier this year successfully represented Edmond Public Schools in that district’s lawsuit against Walters and the Oklahoma State Board of Education. Responding to that lawsuit, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled the content of school libraries was a decision to be made by a local school board, not the state board.
Utah Bans 13 Books From Public Schools StatewideWhat this means, exactly, by Kelly Jensen from BookRiot
https://bookriot.com/utah-book-ban/
*Every public school in the state is now required to dispose of the books. It is unclear how districts plan to get rid of the books, as the law only makes two stipulations: the books cannot be sold or distributed. It is up to each district to create a policy, begging the question of what other methods of disposal will be implemented.
*The books on this list represent some of the most popular targets by book banners and groups championing the “parental rights” cause, including Utah Parents United and Moms For Liberty. These databases are created by volunteers without regard for the professional reviews and ratings already applied to the books at the time of their publication.
*Most of these books are far from new, highlighting that the so-called problem of p_____graphy in schools appeared only when it was a convenient talking point. The average publication date of the books banned by the state of Utah is 2011, or 13 years ago.
*These book bans apply only to public schools, opening up the convenient argument from those power-wielding groups that if other parents don’t like the decision, they can simply send their students to private school or homeschool them. Utah also passed an updated voucher scheme this past legislative session.
*Where many of the fights over book bans nationwide have relied on the “local control” argument–i.e., that each community should decide what is “appropriate” there–Utah’s bill strips that away. Now, only three public school districts can do the decision-making for the entire state.
* None of these books meets the legal definition of p_____graphy nor sensitive material.
Let Utah Read encourages all state residents to send a letter to legislators and to Governor Cox demanding the law be fixed.
https://letutahread.org/stopbookbans
EveryLibrary.org reportsBudget cuts are leaving many school libraries short-staffed or completely unstaffed.
A 2021 study noted that in the ten years between the 2008–09 and 2018–19 academic years, the number of librarians declined while the number of students and other faculty members rose.
Today, less than 30% of schools have school librarians.
It’s a well-known, research-backed fact that the leading indicator of student achievement is access to a school librarian. Of course, this should mean these libraries receive all the funding they need, right? Surprisingly (and unfortunately), this isn’t often the case.
Even more alarming is that not only are many school libraries not receiving budget increases, they’re actually receivingbudget cuts. Many school librarians are being laid off, reduced to part-time hours, or split across multiple campuses.
Well-funded library programs are strongly associated with better student learning outcomes; therefore, cutting library budgets would logically decrease those outcomes.
Part of the appeal of libraries is that they allow students to learn on their own terms. While some students dislike school, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t like to learn. Many students simply have trouble motivating themselves to learn what schools say they need to learn. However, if they can learn on their own terms via the library, they’ll naturally pick up those school-required concepts along the way.
Cutting library funding removes students’ opportunities to learn in this way, decreasing their drive to learn overall. If we want the next generation to grow into creatives, thinkers, and leaders, we must nurture their desire to learn. Without access to school libraries, this becomes infinitely more difficult.
So, what can you do as a concerned parent or citizen? As with many social issues, the greatest thing you can contribute to the cause is your voice. The officials who write up budgets want to ensure that their constituents are happy, so public opinion can significantly impact where the money goes. That's why we made it easy to email your representatives and let them know that you feel it’s important to provide school libraries with proper funding, and encourage others to do the same.
I totally missed it, it was way too hot and humid to walk to the library and my nieces and nephews were busy, but the library closest to me hosted a story time with Kyle Lukoff! In partnership with Ivy League University's Center for Women and Gender and the LGBTQ center. I hope it was successful and well attended. They turned down Kirk Cameron because there are many LGBTQ families in the neighborhood but have had security concerns.
GeorgiaREALLY? I have read Frederick Douglass several times and even own a copy. I do not recall excessive s-e-x and violence. Do people even read these books before they remove them? I have my copy at hand and if I can unearth it from the pile I'll read it again.
Some parents upset some books are being removed from Marietta classrooms
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/cobb...
group of Marietta City School parents say some books are being removed from the curriculum because of Georgia’s Divisive Concepts Law.
But the district is firing back, saying the removal has nothing to do with the law.
“It’s unconscionable to remove The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas from our middle school curriculum, it’s simply unconscionable,” said parent Kayla Sargent, a mother of five who got her hands on the Marietta City Schools District Novel List that includes titles that are under a list of “Not Approved” for eight graders at Marietta Middle School.
The list has eight books four of which are race-related including The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and others related to the Little Rock Nine.
It was a list discovered through an open records request that started when the district banned several books from their library.
This list is about books that can’t be used in classrooms.
“It seems very clear abundantly clear that the divisive concepts law that was passed in Georgia has detrimental unintended consequences the school system. So its undeniable that that particular law is causing a culture of fear which is related to the removal of some of these text,” said Sargent.
We went to Marietta City Schools, where Superintendent Grant Rivera confirmed the list is accurate.
But it’s not about the law passed in Georgia in 2022.
“These specific books are not about divisive concepts whatsoever,” said Rivera.
Instead, Rivera said the district has had a process in place for years.
“We have a curriculum review process and in that process, we ask teachers as well as a committee and central office staff and others to look at novels who are age and developmentally-appropriate,” explained Rivera.
And when it came to The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, “Would that book potentially be invaluable resource for potentially students in ninth through twelfth grade? Absolutely. There was simply a concern about that text given the sex and the graphic violence for eighth graders.”
For Sargent who said her daughter learned about Frederick Douglass in middle school, she has her doubts about the reasoning.
“Why are we keeping other books with s-x in them kind of is the question there,” said Sargent.
TennesseeWilson County high school closes library, reevaluates content due to controversial law
https://fox17.com/news/local/2024-ten...
A Wilson County high school is warning teachers to skip classroom libraries and closed the school library over concerns surrounding a new state law.
Under the law, any brief mention of s-x, nudity or excess violence can lead to a book ban.
The Wilson County Director of Schools says they are temporarily closing the library atGreen Hill High School to sort through books to make sure they get rid of the those that are required to be banned.
Senator Mark Pody, who supports this law, says they're not looking to get school systems in trouble, but instead they want to protect them.
What makes this law different than a previous law is the context of the material does not matter.
Wilson County Schools spokesperson says they will comply with state legislation, but they will also not instill fear among valued administrators and staff members who work very hard to practice district guidelines and policies each day.
The Green Hill High School principal also requested teachers not to have classroom libraries.
enator Mark Pody who supports this bill and he said “We are not trying to look for ways to come down on school systems. We’re looking for ways to help protect them, but I think a lot of common sense can be used.”
Senator Pody explains they are trying to protect children from p____raphy which they've found in the past to be available in public schools. [There is no you know what in schools or libraries unless it is on a kid's phone!]
However, Welch argues this law has gone too far and says it’s in violation of the U.S. Constitution and First Amendment rights.
Authors are taking a stand against book banningAuthors Against Book Banning Read-in at Idaho State Capital
https://idahocapitalsun.com/briefs/au...
More on Authors Against Book Banningnote: this may be paywalled. Sometimes I can get around it.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/08/0...
Good news in Michiganhttps://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-gov...
Alpena County voters approved a tax to keep open its library, despite a campaign to defund it
Library officials have refused to move children and teen books some considered inappropriate
County commissioners are attempting to fire the library board over the issue
An operating millage, necessary to keep the library open, passed with 59% of the vote. The tax provides 74% of the library’s budget, some $800,00.
The campaign featured yard signs urging voters to “Vote NO on Library Grooming” and included an image of a man handing a book labeled “X Rated” to a young girl.
Also Tuesday, 54% of residents in Dickinson County in the Upper Peninsula approved a millage to continue funding their local library, despite a campaign to defeat it because of children's books some deemed inappropriate.
Tuesday’s millage approval may not be the end of the book controversy in Alpena. Two weeks before the vote, the Alpena County Board of Commissioners voted to begin the process of firing all five library board members in retaliation for the library board not moving the controversial books.
While book wars aren’t unusual, observers say they believe it is the first time that county leaders in Michigan have moved to remove library board members.
Now the badthe other story from Alpena, MI
Alpena County moves to fire library officials over s--ually-themed youth books
https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-gov...
“We’re kind of in shock right now,” said Jessica Luther, assistant director of the Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, told Bridge Michigan on Tuesday.
“It’s emblematic of the loss of civility we’ve had in our communities. People have become ‘it’s my way or no way’ and there’s no flexibility.”
Commissioner Travis Konarzewski told Bridge Michigan the action came because the library board was not listening to the concerns of the public and refused to move sexually themed books to a different part of the library.
The 6-1 vote doesn’t fire members immediately. Instead, a personnel committee of the county commission will take up the issue and their dismissal is expected to take 60 to 90 days.
The library’s assistant director, Luther, said officials followed guidelines and resources provided by an attorney with the Library of Michigan and declined to move the books out of the youth section.
Doing so would make it more difficult for the intended audience to find the books and could prompt a lawsuit, Luther said.
“The library board has been careful to follow a process and seek legal advice, to ensure that their patron's civil rights and First Amendment rights are not violated by the removal or relocation of materials in the library,” Dillon Geshel, president of the Michigan Library Association.
“The reason for removal seems to be that the library board continues to carefully follow the law when weighing questions about the content of library materials. MLA stands with the Alpena library and their efforts to ensure that the constitutional rights of patrons are protected. “
Alpena Mayor Cindy Johnson supports the current placement of the books, while the county commissioners who appoint the library board do not.
The one commissioner who voted against removal of the board, John Kozlowski, said he also believes the books are inappropriate for youth.
But he told Bridge Michigan on Saturday that he didn’t believe it was appropriate for the commissioners to remove library board members who were doing what they believed in good faith was best for the library.
Alpena city resident Helen Feldkamp called it “disgusting to drive around and see these signs accusing librarians of being groomers.”
Feldkamp, who has an “I love my library” sign in her lawn, argues that people who don’t want to read certain books can just not check them out.
“I take my kids to the library. They say ‘Mom, can I check this out?’ I can say, ‘No, you’re not ready for that one’, and that’s the end of it.”
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Honestly, anyone who supports Donald Trump and his freakishly baseless conspiracy theories is obviously as ridiculous and as ignorant as Trump is (and that is being kind).
And Trump's level of paranoia and serious mental instability is also dangerous, for if this putridly vile moron truly believes that the Canadian Prime Minister, that Justin Trudeau is the son of Fidel Castro, he might well (if he wins the election) use this as some idiotic excuse to invade Canada.
Duval County, Florida Democrats Decry M4L School Board Candidateshttps://floridapolitics.com/archives/...
3 of the Moms for Liberty candidates also earned Gov. DeSantis' endorsement.
The Duval County Democratic Party has a new digital spot taking aim at Moms for Liberty’s influence on the School Board.
The 80-second ad spotlights four candidates: Reggie Blount, Melody Bolduc, Becky Nathanson and Tony Ricardo, all of whom are supported by the conservative activist group.
Most of the commercial compiles clips of news anchors talking about the group, along with sound bites of people like Tiffany Justice saying she stands with the “mom” who quoted Adolf Hitler in a newsletter, and polyamorous former founder Bridget Ziegler saying it’s time to “take back our School Boards” and “get rid of the woke.”
“We must keep Moms for Liberty off our School Boards. Stop them. On Aug. 20, vote,” the ad urges.
Bolduc, Nathanson and Ricardo, all endorsed by Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this Summer, could be elected outright later this month. They have fundraising advantages over their respective opponents, who are Sarah Mannion, incumbent Cindy Pearson and Nadine Ebri, respectively.
Blount, who has run for City Council before, is the sole Moms for Liberty candidate not endorsed by DeSantis. Two historically Democratic candidates, Nahshon Nicks and Hank Rogers, are also on the ballot in a district with more Democrats than Republicans, meaning he has the most challenging path of the four.
Wisconsin’s ‘banned book queen’ tracks book challenges and worries about widespread bansTasslyn Magnusson keeps a public database of book bans around the country and advocates for students, authors and librarians
https://www.wpr.org/news/wisconsin-sc...
Alaska good newsMat-Su Borough School District ordered to return banned books before school starts
https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/202...
In April 2024, the Northern Justice Project lead counsel Savannah Fletcher requested a judge issue a preliminary injunction ordering the books be returned to school library shelves.
According to a Tuesday press release from the ACLU of Alaska, Judge Gleason of the U.S. District Court of Alaska ordered that the school district return all but seven of the 56 book titles it removed before the start of the school year on Aug. 14.
A statement released Thursday by the Mat-Su Borough School District regarding the court order said in part: “This decision validates the work of the library committee and is in line with the decisions made by the board on the reviewed books.”
According to Fletcher, the books will remain available in libraries until a final decision is reached at a trial set for April 2025.
Regarding the concern for appropriate content within the books in question, Fletcher says it’s a matter of constitutionality.
“The Constitution doesn’t discriminate based on age. Everyone has the right to free speech. Everyone has the right to freedom to access ideas,” Fletcher said.
Fletcher went on to add parents who are concerned have a right to preview the material their children can access. According to her, there are systems within the school district to approve or deny the books children are picking up before they’re checked out at the library.
“What we were trying to stop here is a parent asserting their views on someone else’s children,” Fletcher said. “We would never want to give one parent control over another family’s children through this process of allowing mass removal of books because of one parent’s view, and that’s the important distinction here.”
Texas• Three city council members in Mount Pleasant, Texas, are claiming there are inappropriate books in the public library and want them removed.
https://12ft.io/proxy
Titus County residents David Ruff, David Mester and Kitty O’Rand attended the Mount Pleasant City Council meeting to ask for changes to the city library’s policies, joining parents across the nation who have campaigned against allowing children and teenagers to have access to books about a wide range of violent, s--ual and race-related topics.
They also voiced objections to a room in the library for teenagers that they believed parents weren’t allowed to enter, though a former librarian said parents are, in fact, allowed to enter it.
The three community members spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting. Councilmembers aren’t allowed to respond to speakers, but Mayor Tracy Craig did so, telling the parents he understands their concerns.
Ruff read aloud portions of books from the city library that are rated for children ages 12 and older. The books contain profane language, [etc. etc.] Ruff said they were inappropriate for youth and shouldn’t be available to them.
“I implore you — pick up these books,” he told city councilmembers. “Read them, and then ask yourselves, you as a parent, would you let your kids read these? Would you let your kids be influenced by this when they’re already confused? I wouldn’t.”
..
The first book he read was “Sadie,” an award-winning fiction novel by Courtney Summers that tells the story of a girl who tries to find her sister’s murderer.
...
He then read a portion of the book “If I Was Your Girl” by Meredith Russo, the story of a transgender teenager who has a crush on a boy. The passage he read contained a homophobic slur and the ‘F’ word.
“Why are we allowing this type of material?” Ruff asked. “And they’re influencing these kids, taking away the nuclear family. Where ... are the parents? Where ... are the counselors in all this?”
Mester spoke next, saying he wouldn’t allow his children to enter the teenagers’ room at the library.
“I think it can be so easily that hate out of fear can seem to come from all this, and we can hate what we don’t know or we can almost hate because we want to protect our kids,” he said. “But hate will not fix this. Only love will.”
O’Rand, president of the Christian Home Educators of the Mt. Pleasant Area, said she appreciates the local librarians for how they’ve helped the group of homeschool students and educators.
“I’m not here out of anger — out of concern,” she said.
“Within our group, there has been concern about the books, and I felt that as the president, I should express some concern and say, ‘How do we go about being able to have a voice of what is in the library, and how do you change a policy?’” she asked. “How do you get families together, and is it something we can change, like, we vote on as a family?
“How do we get the books out of there the right way?”
Helen Thompson, who retired as the city’s librarian in January, said she addressed concerns about the room for teenagers while she was still a librarian. It was created to give teenagers privacy, she said.
“The teen policy is that the parents can come in and out. They just can’t go in there and set up their computer and stay,” Thompson said. “And one parent was concerned because, ‘I need to see what they’re doing.’ The wall is glass, and there are seats outside the wall.”
Thompson also talked with parents who both objected to and supported the library’s choice of books.
“Some of them applauded the library for saying, ‘You know, we realize that you have to have something for everybody, that the library represents the city. It doesn’t represent just the homeschool group or just the Buddhist or the Muslims or whatever. It’s a broad spectrum. It also does not represent what we believe,’” Thompson said.
Thompson said she encourages parents to know what types of books their children are reading, and she also said parents have a right to keep their children from reading certain books.
Craig directed residents to the city library board, saying they should voice their concerns there.
He said he hopes the board can “come to a decision that is that will make everyone happy.”
AlabamaAugusta-Prattville
• The first hearing in the lawsuit against Prattville Public Library (AL, see here) happened this week.
https://www.alreporter.com/2024/08/01...
After three months of back-and-forth legal filings, a federal judge has ordered a status conference in the lawsuit against the Autauga-Prattville Public Library alleging discriminatory policy.
Judge Myron Thompson will hear both sides debate motions currently filed to dismiss the suit or allow the plaintiffs to amend or supplement their initial complaint. The hearing will take place at 8:30 a.m. on Aug. 7 at the Frank M. Johnson federal courthouse in Montgomery.
APPL patrons, Read Freely Alabama and the Alabama Library Association filed suit against the board in March, claiming that the policies passed by a newly constituted board in February were unconstitutionally overbroad, vague and engaged in viewpoint discrimination.
The APPL board met in June and created new policy in an effort to have the suit dismissed. The policy no longer expressly prohibits the purchase of certain books for minors containing sexual orientation or gender identity, instead giving the library director discretion to weed materials.
A resolution paired with the new policy, however, restrains the board from overriding the director’s decision to remove or move books that tackle “mature themes” such as “sexual orientation and transgender ideology.”
The plaintiffs allege that the new policy is simply presented differently in an effort to have the lawsuit dismissed, but will still result in LGBTQ books being removed from the library.
Hannah Rees, executive director of Clean Up Alabama, agrees with Read Freely Alabama on that point, posting in a Moms for Liberty Facebook group that “… we did not back down, exact same still no gender identity and sexual orientation but presented differently to get a lawsuit dismissal.
“We have still won and books have been removed from the library and will not be acquired from this point further,” Rees continued. “The APR article is straight BS.”
The plaintiffs cite this post in their motion to amend or supplement their complaint as evidence of the policy’s intent remaining the same despite the changed language.
The APR article that Rees was likely referring to as “straight BS” explains the policy similarly to the explanation given in the APPL board’s filing opposing the motion to allow the amendment of the complaint.
Attorney Bryan Taylor argues in the filing that the plaintiffs have failed to show standing and that the complaint is moot due to the major differences in the new policy.
Although the library board argues that the case must be dismissed, it leaves the door open for what could allow the plaintiffs to file a new challenge against the policy.
“Moreover, the interests of efficiency and justice would best be served by granting the Motion to Dismiss and requiring the Plaintiffs to bring an as-applied challenge if and when the library director has actually denied a Plaintiff’s request to restore a book to the shelves under the new reconsideration procedures.”
The plaintiffs are seeking a preliminary injunction against the current policy to prevent the library from enforcing its policy while the case awaits a trial on the merits.
Alabama lawmakers already pre-filed two laws for the next legislative session that would remove control of library board membership from local control and also criminalize library workershttps://www.cullmantimes.com/news/ala...
Two bills — HB4 and SB6 — have been refiled by Alabama lawmakers ahead of the 2025 legislative session which would continue the push for increased government control over local public libraries.
SB6
SB6 was refiled last week by Alabama Senator Chris Elliot, a Republican from Baldwin County. It would grant city and/or local officials the ability to remove members of local library boards at their discretion by a two-thirds vote.
Elliot originally filed the bill last year on the heels of a statewide campaign from “parental rights” groups such as Clean Up Alabama and Tampa and Florida based Moms for Liberty to remove books containing LGBT content and characters from public libraries. The bill was approved with amendments by the Alabama Senate, but did not pass through the House of Representatives.
Elliot said his goal with the bill is to introduce a local level of accountability to local library boards.
“My goal is very simply to make sure library board members are accountable to the people who appoint them and that they can be removed if the elected body deems that necessary,” Elliot said. “It puts that control at the local level. What’s good in Cullman may be different than what’s good in Orange Beach. Let’s let the local officials make those decisions.”
The reintroduced bill contains Senate amendments made to the original bill, but discards suggested language from the House, Elliot said. One of which states:
“Each library board created pursuant to this section, no later than December 31 of each year, shall provide to the Governor, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and President Pro Temper of the Senate a report detailing the membership of the board and any actions the board has taken regarding the review or removal of items in their collection during the previous 12 months.”
Elliot said he wasn’t able to remember which lawmaker requested that language be added to the bill, but said he didn’t believe the addition to be “problematic.”
Elliot said he did not want the state to become involved in “censorship or determining what’s appropriate,” but hopes that by handing the reigns to local officials they could be more capable of mitigating any potential issues.
The bill does not contain any safeguards to prevent localized censorship campaigns.
“My goal is expressly for local elected officials to have the ability to influence their library boards by having them to continue to serve or not. I want the will of local elected officials to be what is paramount here,” Elliot said.
HB4
What Cullman County library advocate and Read Freely Alabama member Krysti Shallenburger called the “jail the librarians” bill is an amended version of HB385, sponsored last year by Rep. Arnold Mooney, a Republican from Indian Springs, which removes the current exemptions libraries have under Alabama anti-obscenity laws and expands the statutory definition of “s--ual conduct” to include:
“Any sexual or gender-oriented conduct, presentation or activity that knowingly exposes a minor to a person who is dressed in s----ally revealing, exaggerated, or provocative clothing or costumes, who is stripping or who is engaged in lewd or lascivious dancing.”
As of press time, Mooney has not returned messages seeking comment.
The bill was championed by CUA and Moms for Liberty members last year and passed through the House without issue, but was never brought to the Senate floor for a vote.
Changes made to the reintroduced bill include a more defined process and timeline for complaints to be filed with local library boards. Upon receiving a notice from any county resident, libraries would have 15 business days to:
— Move material identified in the notice that violates this division to an age-restricted area of the library.
— Remove material in the notice that violates this division from the library.
— Cease conduct in the notice that violates this division.
— Make an official determination that the material or conduct does not violate this division and take no further action.
Assistant director of the Cullman County Public Library Shelby Creekmore said library systems already have existing policies in place to review book challenges which involve each board member thoroughly reviewing the content. .... she believed 15 days might not be a feasible amount of time to conduct an effective review.
...
Shallenberger said while the voices of these “parental rights” organizations may have been amplified, she did not believe the views which they expressed were shared by the majority of Alabamians, but were instead reflecting those of national political public interest groups.
“This has nothing to do with s--- content in the library,” Shallenburger said. “There isn’t any p---n or obscenity in public libraries that matches the current legal definitions. They are seeking to upend the law to provide an incredibly narrow view of that definition which frankly adheres to only a very extreme part of fundamentalism. This not a view that is popular or widely held by progressives or conservatives in Alabama. This is a minority but they have been incredibly loud and incredibly aggressive.”
Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party and Alabama Public Library Service board member John Wahl said in an interview with The Times last year, that he would much prefer any issues with libraries be handled administratively rather than criminally.
...
A federal injunction has currently blocked a similar statute as a lawsuit challenging the Arkansas law awaits its trial date scheduled to take place in October. The “Project 2025 playbook” — a 920 list of policy recommendations from The Heritage Foundation with input from the conservative think tank Alabama Policy Institute — includes similar recommendations.
“The people who produce and distribute [“p______aphy”] should be imprisoned. Educators and public libraries who purvey it should be classed as registered s-x offenders,” the document reads.
Shallenberger said she hoped lawmakers would once again reject the bill to represent what she believed to be a much more accurate depiction of Alabama values.
“These people do not respect Alabama’s diversity, they do not respect the Constitutional rights of Alabamians to receive information, they do not respect parental rights except when it serves their own interests and they do not respect the ability for children and young adults to be able to read their own stories in a public libraries,” Shallenberger said.
• A lawsuit against Independence School District (MO) challenging the district’s book banning law was dismissed by the Eighth Circuit Courthttps://www.courthousenews.com/eighth...
Finding that the plaintiffs lacked standing, the Eighth Circuit on Friday tossed a lawsuit filed by a group of parents challenging a suburban Kansas City school district’s book-banning policy.
The unanimous decision by the three-judge panel upheld a decision from a federal court, which had previously granted the Independence School District's motion to dismiss.
At issue is a school board policy that automatically removes library materials, including books, immediately after receiving a challenge and before any review or vote.
The ACLU filed suit against the Independence School District on behalf of four parents in December 2022. The parents, who have children in the district’s elementary, middle and high schools, claim the district’s book removal policy is unconstitutional.
The Eighth Circuit on Friday disagreed. Judges contrasted this case with another from Iowa, in which parents challenged a school district’s policy intended to prevent bullying and harassment of students based on their gender identity.
“This case meaningfully differs from Linn Mar, which concerned a policy stifling students’ free speech,” U.S. Circuit Judge Lavenski R. Smith, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote in the 14-page opinion. “The present case, by contrast, does not concern a policy that arguably proscribes the plaintiffs’ children’s speech.”
"In fact," Smith added, "for the automatic-removal policy to affect the children’s conduct — their access to materials in the school library — 'a hypothetical, future challenge, in which a book is automatically removed pending review’ must occur.”
Neither the plaintiffs' attorney nor the school district’s attorney immediately responded to requests for comment.
In their lawsuit, the parents claimed that automatic removal of library materials without an appeal process violated students' First Amendment and due process rights because it restricts their access to ideas and information for an improper purpose and without any prior notice. The policy allows for books to be removed on any basis, including because of views expressed in the material.
The April 2022 removal of the book "Cats vs. Robots Volume 1: This is War" sparked the lawsuit. The challenge form submitted by a parent cited only a “non-binary discussion chapter” as the basis for the complaint.
While representing the plaintiffs in an April 2024 hearing, ACLU attorney Gillian Wilcox argued that the policy has already been enforced. She noted that it applies to all schools within the district — meaning that when a parent in one school files a complaint, the book in question is immediately removed districtwide.
But School District attorney J. Drew Marriott, of the educational legal firm EdCounsel, was adamant during the hearing that the plaintiffs’ arguments were based on hypotheticals. The federal appeals court concurred.
“Notably, this case involves no allegation that the plaintiffs’ children have engaged in self-censorship to avoid punishment as a result of the District’s automatic-removal policy,” Smith wrote. “Instead, ‘the ‘imminent threat’ cited by [the] [p]laintiffs is that, at some point in the future, a book may be challenged ... and temporarily removed from school libraries.’”
U.S. Circuit judges Roger L. Wollman, a Ronald Reagan appointee, and L. Steven Grasz, a Donald Trump appointee, joined Smith on the three-judge panel.
A parent in Carroll County Schools (MD) is filing an appeal in the decision the board made to remove two LGBTQ+ family-themed books from curriculum. https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/08/...
Wendy Novak, a Carroll County Public Schools parent, sent an appeal to the Maryland State Board of Education this week regarding the Carroll Board of Education’s decision to exclude two books about different kinds of families from the prekindergarten and kindergarten curriculum.
Novak is also calling for an “investigation of Title IX violations and state educational policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,” based on comments made by board members Steve Whisler and Donna Sivigny, according to the appeal, which was filed July 30.
The Carroll Board of Education voted, 3-2, in July to exclude “The Family Book,” by Todd Parr, and “The Great Big Book of Families,” by Mary Hoffman, from the county’s prekindergarten and kindergarten family life curriculum. Both books describe different family structures, such as families with same-sex parents, adopted children, single parents and stepparents, with no discussion of gender identity or sexuality.
Novak said the decision to exclude the books is a violation of Title IX because of Whisler’s comments describing families with same-sex parents as “controversial,” as well as Sivigny’s statement in July that “all the activities that have been discussed and the lesson plans that were developed would actually be workable” for the state mandated framework and Carroll modified curriculum.
“The decision to exclude these books from the curriculum, along with the discussion about these books is creating a harmful and hostile environment for our students,” Novak wrote in her appeal. “Students hearing that their families are too controversial to be included are being given the message their family is not worthy of inclusion, that they are something that others need to be protected from.”
At June’s school board meeting, Whisler said it was not the board’s “responsibility to break that role of a parent,” and advocated for the books’ rejection. Whisler proposed the successful motion to exclude the two books at July’s meeting to “preserve parents’ rights,” he said.
“It is really the best procedure, in my opinion, to keep it as broad and generic as possible, to stay away from controversial subjects and to let parents be the ones that talk about these different family structures,” Whisler said in June. “The issue here is not sacrificing the innocence of a child, not putting in front of a child that young so that they explore the notion or the concept of what is outside their norm.”
The 51-page Comprehensive Health Education Framework, adopted by the Maryland State Department of Education in 2019, provides guidelines for health education, including instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity taught in an age-appropriate manner from prekindergarten through 12th grade.
Parents can opt their children out of lessons if they’re in fourth grade or higher, according to the framework. But in Carroll, parents of elementary, middle or high schoolers can choose to have their children continue in a state curriculum, opt into a modified county version, or opt their children out of all family life curricula entirely.
Novak added that she sees the exclusion of the books as having a “snowball” effect that could lead to decisions rejecting other types of families in the county, including those with multiracial parents.
To Cary Hansel, a civil rights, trial and appellate lawyer in Baltimore City, this topic isn’t a “slippery slope” — it’s already at the bottom.
“This isn’t a slippery slope to bigotry and discrimination, it is bigotry and discrimination. This is what it looks like,” Hansel said. “It’s openly discriminatory, and I think the state board will see that.”
Hansel said the decision is “clearly a Title IX issue,” but also pertains to sections of the First Amendment. Because the decision “specifically chooses one appropriate family form and deems [others] controversial,” it also likely violates the Equal Protection Clause for “singling out a particular group of people for different treatment,” he said.
Because Parr and Hoffman’s books were excluded, two new materials are to be chosen to teach the same concepts.
But Hansel said the decision isn’t just about the books — it sends a message from the school board that “this topic that they view as controversial ought not be taught at all.” Even if two different materials are chosen to teach the subject, the same problem will occur again, Hansel added, and could be a “shadow ban on the entire topic.”
He also sees the exclusion as a “sad, tired attempt to hide a ban” on books.
“A ban is a ban whether it comes before the books reach the institution or after, whether it’s a ban on using them to teach or a ban on merely having them in the library,” Hansel said. “Denying children access to information that is healthy and accurate and will help them correctly model and understand the world is the goal of people who would engage in this sort of behavior.”
Good news in NJ!After a very long battle, Let’s Talk About It will remain on high school library shelves at North Hunterdon-Voorhees High School (NJ).
https://outinjersey.net/north-hunterd...
After a year of harassment and book ban threats, North Hunterdon High School librarian Martha Hickson is fighting back, and so are her students and their parents.
In a 7-4 vote in May, Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human is no longer up to a board of education vote for banning at North Hunterdon-Voorhees (North) Regional High School’s library.
The board meeting was an inflection point on the rise in fascism in New Jersey schools and the ways Christian extremism and white nationalism has infiltrated public schools with misinformation, say activists and students.
Let’s Talk About It, the literature that’s gotten everyone talking, is a sex and relationship education book written by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan, and is backed by the “most up-to-date information.” The two authors wrote the book — knowing science will evolve over time — as a guide to teenagers’ relationships from that moment forward of their sexual and social development.
The topic of obscenity was the focus for a minority of adults in the room. However, most students, and supporting adults in North Hunterdon-Voorhees, spoke against this idea, against fascism, and for intellectual freedom. Commenters also spoke for the protection of the North Hunterdon-Voorhees school librarian, Martha Hickson.
Hickson is the 2023 Librarian of the Year recipient from the New Jersey Library Association. She has been thrust into the media spotlight for defending books like Let’s Talk About It and against censorship in New Jersey school libraries.
This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison, All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson, and Let’s Talk About It were all threatened with banning last year. At the time, the school board voted to reject a resolution to ban the five books, reported Out In Jersey.
“On top of all that,” said one student to the board, “your librarian Martha Hickson was harassed and threatened for having this book in the library. By banning it, you are teaching [people] that that is okay; that they are allowed to harass and threaten your staff to get what they want.”
The student described their experience with censorship as central to anti-LGBTQ ideology by targeting “books inclusive of queerness” and the safety of libraries for students.
“Furthermore, a book aiding teens and their development as individuals, as people in society, showered in positive reviews,” the student said, “can hardly be considered lacking value.”
This hasn’t stopped anti-LGBTQ activists as far as meeting attendees were concerned.
Michael Gottesman, founder of Jersey Public Education Coalition, spoke about people moving or traveling to New Jersey from Moms for Liberty, Center for Garden State Families, and members of Turning Point USA, who he says are just some of the organizations behind book bans and anti-LGBTQ curriculum and policy.
“I received nothing for speaking, but the faces that appear here — meeting after meeting — have monetized their appearances,” said Gottesman to the board. “So think about what’s really going on here. There are actors — beyond those speaking in this room — that are really pushing this, and they don’t represent your parents.”
Gottesman was speaking about Rev. Gregory Quinlan’s monetization of censorship and school board appearances. Quinlan didn’t get time to speak at the podium, but is the founder of Center for Garden State Families. The anti-LGBTQ, Christian extremist nonprofit brought in about $85,000 in donations in 2022 with an executive salary of $60,000 to one individual, Harry Quinlan, according to tax filings.
“Many of you heard of Pastor John Amanchukwu. He’ll come and appear if you pay him $10-to-$20,000 and you pay his first -class plane ticket,” Gottesman said, referring to a March Old Bridge Board of Education meeting where Policy 5756 was abolished after public comment.
Amanchukwu — employed by white nationalist organization TPUSA — was escorted out of the Old Bridge meeting for inappropriate language in front of minors and members of the public.
More recently, Garden State activists like Hickson are fighting fascist ideology through legislation.
On Thursday, June 6, after hours of testimony, an Assembly committee approved the Freedom to Read Act, which “establishes requirements for library material in public school libraries and public libraries; protects school library staff members and librarians.”
This passing is correlated to the ongoing bullying of Hickson and attempts at book bans.
State Assemblywoman Mitchelle Drulis and Sen. Andrew Zwicker introduced the bill at the beginning of the legislative session after learning what Hickson had faced while taking requests to ban books from the school library — requests that she denied.
As a result, Hickson’s professionalism and expertise has been put into question many times, including last month. Steven Piontek of Union Township, for instance, started his public comment with a definition of the word “obscenity” before saying “I think we have a much bigger problem than the books being there. I think we have to ask how they got there in the first place, what education professional allowed this to slip past?”
Yet, instead of defending herself, Hickson defended the students. “There are others that wish to have their voices heard tonight, but are unable to be here due to lack of transportation, National Honor Society inductions, the pressures of upcoming AP exams. I’m speaking, of course, about the students you serve. It’s a great matter of concern that students have been shut out of the decision making process,” said Hickson.
Hickson raised her students’ voices up. One student wrote to Hickson: “Don’t ban this book. It helps those who don’t know about the topic and aren’t comfortable talking to their family about it. It helps them understand emotions and thoughts that are normal at this age, as well as giving clear, accessible information that is backed up as opposed to what they hear at school, which can be wrong or not healthy.”
WyomingCampbell County Public Library (WY) Library board to form committee to define new adult section
[where they put all the books they object to but aren't allowed to ban.]
https://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/ne...
Paywalled
Jackson said the plan is for the library board to select three people from the community to serve on this committee at its August board meeting. They'll work with board members and library staff to define what belongs in the new adult section and perhaps even come up with a different name for the collection.
Arkansas• Some residents in Garland County, Arkansas, are trying to get a ballot measure that would reduce the tax money the public libraries receive.
Their initial proposal was to completely eliminate tax allocation for the library.
https://arkansasadvocate.com/briefs/g...
Garland County residents submit petition for ballot measure to cut library funding
Garland County residents await a decision from county officials on whether they’ll get to vote in November to reduce the property tax that funds the local library, a supporter of the measure said Monday.
George Pritchett was one of the supporters who collected about 130 signatures from registered Garland County voters, more than the 100 necessary to qualify for the countywide ballot, and submitted them Friday afternoon, he said. The county clerk is expected to decide this week whether the measure qualifies, and Pritchett said supporters are “confident” it will.
The proposal would reduce the 1.6-mill tax, approved by county voters in 1998, to 1.0 mills. An earlier version of the measure sought to eliminate the tax completely, but supporters altered it after county residents raised concerns that the library would close without the tax funding, which Pritchett has said is a “misconception” and not the goal of the measure.
If the measure is successful, Garland County would be Arkansas’ second county in two years, after Craighead County, to vote to reduce its library system’s tax revenue. Pritchett has said the Garland County effort is based on the one in Craighead County, a narrowly-approved 2022 measure that cut the libraries’ funding in half and forced the system to reduce its hours and staff.
Pritchett and Reggie Cowan, who also supports the measure, have said the Garland County library receives too much tax money and can function on its cash reserves, which total millions. They have also said library funding would be in the hands of the county quorum court.
Garland County Library Executive Director Adam Webb has said this is not true. He bases the library’s budget every year on “anticipated revenue,” which would be nonexistent if the property tax were abolished.
The current millage brings in roughly $3.6 million annually for Garland County Library maintenance and operations, Webb said in July.
The proposed 0.6-mill tax reduction would cut the library’s budget by $1 million and might force it to reduce its hours or limit its more expensive services, Webb said.
The ACLU talked with students about why they’re concerned about classroom censorshiphttps://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech...
• The Greenville School District (SC) is still trying to figure out how to implement their new book banning policies, and it’s going to be burdensome to professionals, It is also complicated by the state’s new school materials policy.https://www.wspa.com/news/local-news/...
The Greenville County Board of Trustees and other leaders met Tuesday to discuss concerns over a new policy for book bans and inappropriate books within the school district.
Committee chair Doug Webb said transparency is crucial.
The policy includes new rules, like having all material in the library displayed on the district website, as well as having faculty share a list of their instructional materials to parents and guardians.
“As part of this good faith process, we have created this proposal of a panel, to review and work with the parents in good faith when reviewing their concerns,” said Doug Webb, general counsel for Greenville County Schools.
Webb said the panel would consist of three parents, a media specialist, an administrator, a teacher, and an academic department representative. We’re told under this new policy they would have 21 days after a parent submits a complaint to review the material and provide a response.
Upon receiving a complaint, the state board of education will also be asked to review it. The state board can also decline and send it back to the board of trustees to decide.
“At this point I’m not a big fan of the panel,” said Jeff Cochran, area 28.
The panel was a large part of Tuesday’s discussion.
“I want to voice the concern about placing undue burden on department chairs, on media specialists, on instructional coaches at the individual entities” said Anne Pressley, Area 24. “To make a judgment on something like that is an enormous amount of responsibility on a single individual. As cumbersome as committees can potentially be, there’s a reason that those exist.”
Other questions about what defines age inappropriate came up throughout the conversation.
“How does that affect us pulling the classics?” said Michelle Goodwin-Calwile, Area 25.
Webb responded by saying they would need to evaluate the “classics” like “anything else.”
Virginia-King George School Board considers banning two books from middle school
When Cathy Hoover recently visited King George Middle School to gain a better understanding of the book checkout process in the library, the school board member came away thinking no more tweaks needed to be made.
“In my opinion,” said Hoover, “it’s perfect.”
Principal Casey Nice and the school librarian demonstrated the process for Hoover. Students must have parental approval to check out books that are deemed questionable by librarians and school staff.
“We are definitely putting the decision in the parents’ hands,” Hoover said.
Still, that process is under scrutiny from members of the community. A county resident filed an appeal to the school board to remove two books from the middle school — “ttfn” by Lauren Myracle and “Sold” by Patricia McCormick.
...
content.
King George School Board members said Monday that they are still reviewing the books and will decide their fate at the Aug. 19 meeting, to be held at the middle school.
“We can’t very well decide on them unless we’ve read them, whether we want to or not,” School Board Chair David Bush said.
Several community members spoke at the meeting on Monday, with the majority speaking in favor of maintaining the same checkout process, and not banning the books. Former school board member Carrie Gonzalez said there are more critical issues at hand, and parents should establish closer relationships with their children so they can discuss various viewpoints expressed in literature. ...
King George Board of Supervisors representative Ken Stroud made another appearance in front of the school board to voice his concerns about library books. Several speakers said they were displeased with Stroud for calling out a librarian by name at the previous meeting, and Bush implemented a rule that no speaker is to refer to anyone by name in a favorable or unfavorable manner.
Stroud said his position is that he will always stand “between children and harm.” ...
Stroud said parents who encourage their children to read whatever they want can purchase books rather than have taxpayers pay for them to be in schools.
...
Stroud disagreed with Gonzalez that parents are unwilling to discuss sensitive topics with their children. He said parents that he’s spoken to aren’t afraid of the conversations, they’re frightened by “the people that are out there, the predators having access to the kids.”
...
An employee in the school division followed Stroud’s comments and said she worked in the Information Technology field for 30 years but decided to work for King George Public Schools for less money to positively influence youth. She said she is perplexed by “the people that walk around here and think people in the school system are all crazy because we want our kids to have access to lots of knowledge.”
“Because you read a certain kind of book does not make you commit crime,” she said. “It expands your worldview and your knowledge of what’s going on around you.”
King George Middle School seventh-grader Artemis Park also took exception to the potential banning of books, calling it “ignorant” and “selfish.” Park said he found a “safe space” in reading and relating to characters, and that each book gave him real world topics to ponder.
“Stopping children and teenagers from reading books isn’t going to prevent them from figuring out who they are or what they’ll become,” Park said.
The school board has two weeks to decide on the books. One speaker noted that the individual who initiated the challenges has not appeared at the past three meetings discussing book bans.
Tillamook School District's efforts to remove “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent” from an Honors English optional reading list is considered to be “book banning” by the Oregon Library Association considers both efforts as censorship and attempts of curtailing free speech.https://www.tillamookcountypioneer.ne...
The committee reviewed the book How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez. The book was being used in the 10th grade honors class as one of several options a student could choose to read (it was not required for students to read but simply an option.) The book has been evaluated and approved by the state board of education and it aligns with Oregon standards illustrating diverse perspectives (i.e., the immigrant experience and girls’/womens’ experience).
The committee voted 4-3 “not to retain” the book. This means the book will not be part of the honors curriculum but will remain in the school library. The objections were primarily around s--ual content but at no point did anyone cite a passage from the book or provide an example of what they found objectionable. The English teacher using the book and a parent of a student from the honors class both gave eloquent arguments in support of the book.
The school board will make the final decision on Monday August 12th (likely aligning with the committee’s recommendation.) There is concern about the process that was used to review this book as it was not objective or rigorous. We are continuing to gather information about this situation, finding that there may be other books that have been removed without proper review. Parents and concerned citizens should reach out to the district and high school about the process of “Curriculum Review”.
[I have NO memory of sexual content and I read this book more than once on my own or maybe once on my own and once for school!]
TexasRIDICULOUS new rule proposal in Corpus Christi
One of the new proposals for the Corpus Christi Public Library (TX) is to prohibit anyone under 18 from borrowing “books with sexual orientation and gender
PAYWALLED
https://www.caller.com/story/news/loc....
Corpus Christi library cardholders younger than 18 would be barred from checking out books with certain sexual content under one version of suggested changes to the library's book collection policy, proposed by a member of a divided subcommittee
https://subscribe.caller.com/restrict...
Follow-up
Corpus Christi Library Board didn't vote on controversial proposals.
https://www.aol.com/corpus-christi-li...
Proposed changes to how the city selects, relocates or removes books from Corpus Christi’s public library shelves won’t move forward at present — and the subcommittee formed to review and potentially make suggestions on the policies has been dissolved.
The proposals weren’t sent to Library Director Laura Garcia on Friday, when a procedural question led to a halt in a vote by the nine-member Library Board that might have advanced recommended changes to the library’s collection development policy from a split subcommittee.
The collection development policy outlines criteria for which books reside in libraries — those that are added to circulation, shifted to another section or pulled entirely.
The four-member subcommittee forged to review the policy had been directly divided — two of its members recommending no changes or no substantive changes to the existing policy, and two members seeking significant revisions.
Among recommendations made by a subcommittee member had been to issue specially designated cards to minors that would bar them from checking out books with certain s--ual content.
That was described in a sample proposed policy as including “obscenity, s----al conduct, s---al intercourse, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender discordance.”
It was thought as of Wednesday that all the recommendations — both for retaining or adjusting current policy — would be submitted to Garcia for review, if forwarding them to the library director was approved by the majority of the Library Board.
However, board members were notified Thursday that because there had been no consensus among subcommittee members, none of the recommendations would go through a subsequent review process by city staff — a development viewed alternately as a victory by those who wanted no changes, and a disappointment for those who did.
It was good that “the decision was made not to move forward,” wrote subcommittee and Library Board member Jennifer Anderson in a message to the Caller-Times.
“Without consensus, I feel like this was the only logical next step,” she wrote. “Honestly, as a group, I think we have more important work to do.”
Serving in an advisory capacity, the Library Board is enabled to make recommendations related to library operations and policies, according to the city’s Code of Ordinances. However, it’s up to the city’s staff to either adopt or reject any recommendations.
...
Resident Dana Posey, addressing the board Friday, said youth must be protected.
Describing herself as “a voracious reader,” she had come across what she said was s---ally explicit content in a library when she was young.
“I am 61 years old and I still remember how it made me feel — it did not make me feel good; it left an ugly feeling inside of me,” she said. “I was confused because I didn’t understand why it was there.”
Others have pinned efforts to redirect books to other sections of the library as a potential first slip into the descent of censorship, and a move that would impede parental authority to make their own choices on what their teenagers or children read.
Some have also alleged that books including LGBTQIA+ topics have been specifically targeted by some of the Library Board members.
The dispute has drawn the public to both City Council and Library Board meetings, with emotional and sometimes charged comments from those steadfast in both camps.
Some have suggested strongly that there are efforts underway to ban books, while board members who have been proponents of relocating some books have said the intention is not to ban them but to shift some from the young adult over to the adult section.
Resident Catherine Cox, addressing the Library Board on Friday, referenced Ray Bradbury’s classic “Fahrenheit 451,” describing it as a dystopian novel in which “books are all considered heretics.”
“There is something truly absurd about the fervor to ban books in our country and here in this community,” she said. “The situation would be comical if it weren’t so tragic.”
Subcommittee and Library Board member Alice Upshaw Hawkins, who had recommended there be no changes to the policy, said after the meeting that there being no vote represented “a win.”
Referencing proposed upcoming budget cuts to the city’s libraries, she said it doesn’t make sense to “take up valuable time from the library staff to take this to the next level … and burden them with something that is an acceptable document.”
She also referenced several recommendations made by some of the other subcommittee members to eliminate certain verbiage from the collection development policy.
“To remove the word ‘democracy’ and to remove (the words) ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ is a mockery of our political state,” Upshaw Hawkins said.
Subcommittee and Library Board member Joan Carrillo — who had endorsed some of the recommended changes — said it would be discussed with city officials whether there would be another avenue to bring the recommendations forward.
It also may be revisited next year, she said.
Carrillo had recommended that the proposed cards for minors should prohibit borrowing books with “obscenity, s---al conduct (and) s----al intercourse,” but allow check-out of books with topics of “sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender discordance (unless they have obscene content.)”
The subcommittee’s work wasn’t an entire loss, Carrillo said, because parents are now more aware of some of the content of books in the young adult section.
The development in the meeting Friday was disappointing given the time volunteered, wrote subcommittee and Library Board member Melinda de los Santos in a message to the Caller-Times after the meeting.
...
https://www.kiiitv.com/article/news/l...
Members of the LGBTQ+ community and their supporters saw Friday's result as a victory.
"Personal freedoms, families being able to choose what materials are available to their children, and not having to have someone dictate from on high -- or from out of town -- what materials their children have access to," said local Pride Corpus Christi past president Tom Tagliabue.
Scary news in Arlington, Texas• An individual who demanded that the Arlington Public Library (TX) be fired for keeping books on shelf that they believed were “p-----aphic” (they weren’t) has now been appointed by city council to the library board.
https://www.keranews.org/government/2...
Arlington City Council approved the appointment of a resident who called for Library Director Norma Zuniga’s firing following a contentious discussion Tuesday evening.
Melodie Morris was one of multiple people who called for Zuniga’s resignation last spring after challenged books that depicted graphic illustrations were not considered p______graphic. The conversation was on the heels of a broader debate about LGBTQ+ Pride Month book displays in public libraries.
Morris was nominated by at-large District 6 council member Long Pham. Pham said during the afternoon meeting that Morris was a resident when she made the comments, and that only City Manager Trey Yelverton can hire or fire department directors.
....
Arlington City Council tabled Morris’ appointment during a June meeting to allow time for council members to speak with Morris.
Mayor Jim Ross said he had a pleasant conversation with Morris, who also applied for the Comprehensive Plan Update Steering Committee and Citizens Bond Committee. Morris could serve on any other committee, Ross said, but needed to face accountability for her comments.
“When you stand up and say, ‘You need to fire the library service director because whatever the reason is and then you come back and say, ‘I want to be on the library board,’ part of being held accountable for your actions, in my book, if you should’ve thought about that before you demanded us to fire her.”
He said during the afternoon session that Zuniga opposed Morris’ appointment.
Morris did not apologize for calling for Zuniga’s resignation last year, but said she no longer wants Zuniga to be fired. Morris said she has told Zuniga that she would like to work with her, and that her and others’ comments were “desperate” because they felt unheard.
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Arlington City Council appoints to advisory board person who called for library director's firing
KERA | By Kailey Broussard
Published August 7, 2024 at 1:25 PM CDT
The Arlington Public Library Downtown located in the heart of downtown Arlington and named after George W. Hawkes.
Emily Nava
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KERA
Arlington City Council approved two appointments to the Library Advisory Board Aug. 6, 2024, including a person who called for Library Director Norma Zuniga's resignation.
Arlington City Council approved the appointment of a resident who called for Library Director Norma Zuniga’s firing following a contentious discussion Tuesday evening.
Melodie Morris was one of multiple people who called for Zuniga’s resignation last spring after challenged books that depicted graphic illustrations were not considered pornographic. The conversation was on the heels of a broader debate about LGBTQ+ Pride Month book displays in public libraries.
Morris was nominated by at-large District 6 council member Long Pham. Pham said during the afternoon meeting that Morris was a resident when she made the comments, and that only City Manager Trey Yelverton can hire or fire department directors.
“If you don’t like somebody who works for the city and you tell me to go fire the person, I would never talk to you again because that’s not my job,” Pham said.
Arlington City Council tabled Morris’ appointment during a June meeting to allow time for council members to speak with Morris.
Mayor Jim Ross said he had a pleasant conversation with Morris, who also applied for the Comprehensive Plan Update Steering Committee and Citizens Bond Committee. Morris could serve on any other committee, Ross said, but needed to face accountability for her comments.
“When you stand up and say, ‘You need to fire the library service director because whatever the reason is and then you come back and say, ‘I want to be on the library board,’ part of being held accountable for your actions, in my book, if you should’ve thought about that before you demanded us to fire her.”
He said during the afternoon session that Zuniga opposed Morris’ appointment.
Morris did not apologize for calling for Zuniga’s resignation last year, but said she no longer wants Zuniga to be fired. Morris said she has told Zuniga that she would like to work with her, and that her and others’ comments were “desperate” because they felt unheard.
A blonde woman stands behind a dais with the city of Arlington's star logo on it. People can be seen in a couple of the chairs behind her. She's looking offscreen to Arlington City Council members.
City Of Arlington
Melodie Morris addresses Arlington City Council members during the Aug. 6, 2024 meeting.
“Do I apologize for asking you all to consider firing her at the time? No sir, I don’t. We couldn’t get you to listen, and you’re not taking that into consideration,” she said Tuesday evening.
Morris said she would represent all residents if appointed and asked for “healing and restoration.”
“We are very much into restorative justice, and you’re not giving me the opportunity for restorative justice here,” Morris said to Ross.
Council approved Morris’ appointment by a 5-3-1 vote. Mayor Jim Ross and council members Andrew Piel and Barbara Odom-Wesley voted against her appointment. Council member Mauricio Galante abstained.
Piel questioned whether appointing someone who called for a director’s resignation would send the wrong signal to both Zuniga and prospective municipal employees.
“If we did this, I wouldn’t be surprised if Norma resigned,” he said. “She may just quit, and then we have to go hire a new library director, and then it gets out that Arlington is willing to put somebody who said in public ‘I want this department head fired’ on the committee. I think that means less people would apply for the job and we’d have a harder time finding people.”
Yelverton said he would protect his department head from inappropriate behavior.
“I do think it creates challenges, but we’ll do whatever you all want. It’ll be more difficult, but I’ll manage it,” he said.
Council member Rebecca Boxall argued that working with people who disagree with city employees is part of Zuniga and other department heads’ jobs.
“I would think it would be incumbent on you to try to work with that person or the public,” Boxall said.
aul Gonzalez said people deserve second chances. He said council members offered one to former Library Advisory Board Chair Cat Serna-Horn, who was ultimately removed from the board over comments made in a private Facebook group.
“We gave the chair a second chance, the second chance didn’t work, I think that we should give (Morris) a second chance. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work,” Gonzalez said.
Galante, who was elected to his first term in May, suggested delaying the vote to give Morris and Zuniga a time to meet and possibly make amends.
“It’s really one person said, another person said,” Galante said. “We’re kind of assuming that she’s … not going to like your appointment there.”
IndianaBook restrictions in Indiana pressure public schools and libraries to remove books
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/boo...
Last year, Indiana governor Eric Holcomb signed a controversial book restriction bill that made two sweeping changes. First, it's now easier for community members to request the removal of books from schools that they believe are inappropriate. Second, if a teacher or school librarian provides a student with a book their parent believes is harmful and a prosecutor agrees they could be charged with a crime and they can't use the book's educational value as a defense.
Indiana Republican state senator Jim Toms co-authored the initial legislation.
PEN America's Jonathan Friedman says Indiana's law doesn't ban specific types of content from schools, but it does create a sense of fear and anxiety among educators.
"Now no one is telling them, You better not have X book or y book or books with s--ual content on the shelves, but it's clear that that kind of material is going to be targeted, and that the law that has passed is going to enable the targeting of that kind of that kind of content."
So there's a fear that this legislation is going to lead to the removal of books like that, either because parents complain about them or because educators worry that they'll get in trouble for including those types of books in their collection.
Jim Tomes claims "Well, maybe they should worry. Maybe educators should work through doing it. Maybe it should have the chilling effect if it's going to put these kind of books in the hands of a minor child."
Indiana's law has also sparked worry among librarians. Diane Rogers is the president of the Indiana Library Federation. She's a high school librarian who has made it a point to stock her shelves with a diverse range of literature.
I have never had items that would be considered obscene by law in my collection. Do I have books that someone may find objectionable, but objectionable is not the same thing as obscene, and perhaps I do because people have different views about things. People have different feelings.
While she doesn't believe this law affects her ability to do her job right now, Rogers worries about the future.
I worry that students won't get the reading materials that they want, and they also won't get the reading materials that they need. I have always tried to make sure that students can see themselves on the library shelf.
Bruce Boyd is a resident of Noblesville, Indiana, who describes himself as a Christian missionary. Boyd [says] he thinks books that feature diverse representations of gender and sexuality could be harmful to kids. In a public library in a Christian nation, I think that, you know, my opinion, I feel like the standard has been set, and if we a Christian nation, we need to abide by the Christian standard.
[QNPoohBear: Repeat after me: We are NOT a Christian nation. Read the Constitution- First Amendment! Separation of church and state. PUBLIC libraries are for the PUBLIC as in everyone.]
But Boyd's perspective isn't one shared by everyone in the Indianapolis suburbs.
Max, age 16, heard that their local public library board approved a new rule in late 2022 to ban books that contain s-x, drug and alcohol use repeated profanity and violence from the children and teen sections in the library system. The policy led to the relocation of nearly 2000 books from the youth section to the adult collection. Max described it as outrageous.
"The first book that I read wasn't the reason I realized I was trans. It was just nice to see once I realized that, and I see that represented a book. So now that it's not being represented, it's might be harder for people to realize or even just feel safe in their own identity, and that's my concern."
Following backlash in Max's community, several conservative members of the public library board either quit or were not reappointed. And in November 2023 the board voted to rescind the policy that banned certain books from the youth section of the library.
Max says "What makes me hopeful is the fact that a lot of other people my age, who are Gen Z, we have access to the internet, and know how much power that can hold. I think that we have the power to stop this if we all pitch in. And I think we can."
Inverness City Council (Florida)https://www.chronicleonline.com/news/...
More than likely the last thing the Inverness City Council might have expected at Tuesday’s regular meeting was to get an ear-blistering tongue lashing over something they have little to nothing to do with.
After having already heard from several who had spoken, once more urging the City Council to agree to a resolution opposing Amendment 4, it appeared that Dale Gilliam Saunders would do likewise. Instead, Saunders spoke about books. Library books, to be specific. Banning library books, to be exact.
“I’ll try to be brief, because we all know that John Labriola needs to give his most recent report on library books he doesn’t like and wants removed from the shelves,” said Saunders, who continued with a further dig against Labriola. “On Aug. 3, Jim Gouvellis of the Citrus County Chronicle called him ‘Library Guy,’ which is a lot nicer than he deserves.”
Saunders then called Labriola’s efforts a political stunt intended to be the groundwork for Labriola’s candidacy for a seat on the Inverness City Council. He directed his next comment directly at Labriola, seated in the front row of the chamber.
“Is that your campaign slogan, ‘I got six books banned from the library’?” But Saunders didn’t restrict his ire to only Labriola. He also lambasted the Chronicle. “The Chronicle seems to enjoy making each book you ban as a headline for their newspaper, when they should be showing the disgust you’re showing the LGBTQ community.”
Saunders’ rhetoric continued to escalate. He cited the removal of the book “Jack of Hearts.” The book, he said, had been checked out from the library since 2018 a “… whopping two times.” He then let it be known he was skeptical whether any of the books on Labriola’s list had even ever been read by Labriola, given that in some cases, several of the books had been missing for years.
“What matters more? The rights of individuals, or his ideology?” Saunders asked, directing the question to the City Council.
Eventually, City Council President Jackie Hepfer intervened. She told Saunders he was addressing his comments to the wrong governmental body.
“We don’t have anything to do with the library,” Hepfer said. She then told Saunders that it is up to he and the LGBTQ community and not the city. This appeared to further infuriate Saunders.
“So, anybody can ban a book, you guys will do nothing to help protect the LGBTQ community,” he asked, rhetorically. He then added that their silence meant their being complicit to what Labriola’s doing. The council, he said, has to protect its citizens. Otherwise, it’s just turning its back on a good portion of the state’s population.
With that, Councilwoman Crystal Lizanich responded, informing Saunders that she recently joined the library council and was reviewing the books in question. Among her discoveries are the fact that the library lacks the personnel needed to do an extensive book-by-book review. It did not appear to significantly mollify Saunders, but he did dial down his tone.
“I’ll be honest. I’m a gay man. I read gay books. I don’t care whether they’re about teens or about adults,” he said, then again challenged the City Council. “What are you doing to protect the LGBTQ community on this? What are you guys doing?”
Kelly Jensen of BookRiot reports on the courts allowing the Iowa book ban law to go into effect. Chilling news.https://bookriot.com/iowa-book-ban-la...
"The court stat[es] that public schools have the right to limit some speech if it is in opposition to their education of children. It is a dangerous precedent to set.
The law applies to all public schools, regardless of whether or not they have had any book challenges. It, like the law in Utah that has banned 13 books from every public school in the state, was created under the guise of giving “local control,” but actually puts the power of decision over books in public schools into the hands of the government. The lack of guidance from the state to schools in Iowa is a feature, not a bug.
It’s prime fuel for furthering the state’s push to funnel taxpayer money into private vouchers, which have already begun to close public schools in the state.
The three judges who issued the opinion are all republican appointees. Judge James B. Loken was appointed by George HW Bush in 1990, Judge Ralph Erickson was appointed by Donald Trump in 2017, and L. Steven Grasz was appointed in 2018 by Donald Trump.
Iowa’s law provides little guidance except that the books have depictions or descriptions of s-x acts. “S-x acts” are defined by Iowa code and by that definition, include books about s-xual assault and r--e; it would also include books about s-x and sexuality written with teen readers in mind. The code specifies what counts as a “s-x act,” but as reported by the Register in their research, it has also included scores of books by and about LGBTQ+ people, most of which do not meet the codified definition.
Those books have been removed because of another provision in SF 496, which only allows limited instruction on gender and sexual orientation before seventh grade. Schools removed books covering those topics, despite the fact those books do not need to be removed.
The court’s decision to overturn the injunction now puts Iowa among the states with laws that promote broad-scale book banning, including Utah, South Carolina, Texas, Idaho, and more. Expect to see an increase in mass book banning across the state of Iowa as the 2024-2025 school year launches."
The weekend news is mostly positive.Tennessee
Community fears book banning is getting out-of-control at event to celebrate banned books
Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones held the event at the Nashville Public Library on Sunday.
Video
Tennessee gets a jump start on Banned Book Week
https://www.peachtreetv.com/video/202...
https://www.wsmv.com/2024/08/12/commu...
Combating Censorship with 'Sunlight': An SCBWI Panel Looks at 'UnBanning Books'https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...
The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators hosted an online “UnBanning Books” panel, open to the public, on August 1. SCBWI executive director Sarah Baker welcomed more than 500 audience members to the discussion of combatting book bans, which kicked off the organization’s virtual summer conference, which had more than 1,600 registered participants. “As members of the children’s book community, we have a special responsibility to understand how book bans work and how to fight them,” Baker said. “We hope that this discussion will give you practical strategies to support intellectual freedom in your communities.”
Massachusetts Public libraries resist calls for book removalswell yeah... only pockets of the state are that wacky and only a few people in my sister's area and out in the west challenge books and everyone just ignores them!
https://www.wcvb.com/article/massachu...
In 2023, Boston Public Library joined “Books Unbanned,” an initiative started by the Brooklyn Public Library, which creates free digital access to books that have been challenged or pulled in other libraries.
“Any 13- to 26-year-old anywhere in the country that is experiencing difficulty in getting access to their collections locally because of these efforts can apply for a BPL e-card and gain access to our digital collections online,” said David Leonard, president of the Boston Public Library. "At this stage, we have between 1,500 and 2,000 sign-ups from every state in the nation."
Beautiful opinion piece which is PAYWALLEDWhen we ban books, we erase essential characters of American culture
https://www.ajc.com/education/get-sch...
No censorship zone: New York Public Library celebrates books targeted by banshttps://abc7.com/videoClip/book-ban-a...
Political Climate in High Schools: Responding to Book Bans -https://goodereader.com/blog/commenta...
Moorestown, New Jersey In response to increasing attempts at book bans, Moorestown library becomes first ‘book sanctuary’ in South Jersey
The Burlington County library joins about three dozen book sanctuaries statewide, mostly in North Jersey where the movement began last year with Hoboken Public Library.
https://www.inquirer.com/education/mo....
The library decided to become a sanctuary to declare it a safe space and protect books from challenges, especially from outside groups, she said. The sanctuary display includes a variety of frequently challenged or banned books for patrons to check out.
Ridiculous news from Maryland.Maryland: Books Banned by Carroll County Public School Libraries Rises to 21, Others Restricted
https://www.infodocket.com/2024/08/08....
once again BookLooks is NOT a valid review source. These books have already been PROFESSIONALLY reviewed and rated.
story is paywalled of course. I read it on the tablet on Google News just fine!
Children's Books
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My Rainbow (other topics)
Butt or Face? Volume 3: Super Gross Butts (other topics)
The Day the Books Disappeared (other topics)
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https://triblive.com/local/westmorela...
Another one in Ontario. Two in two weeks.
Thunder Bay related to a story time with drag queens event.
Police investigating threat to Mary JL Black Library
This is not the first time a threat was called in for that library.
https://www.tbnewswatch.com/local-new...