Children's Books discussion
Banned Books: discussions, lists
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Discussion of censorship, equity, and other concerns.
Except more book banning in TexasAttorney General Ken Paxton sues Coppell ISD, alleging the district is teaching ‘critical race theory’
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/sout...-
On Wednesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Coppell Independent School District for allegedly teaching “critical race theory.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Coppell ISD for allegedly teaching "critical race theory"
The lawsuit refers to a state law banning CRT and certain historical narratives in schools
Paxton accuses the school of using NGSS curriculum, not adopted by Texas, which includes climate education
...
The lawsuit stems from a video published by a conservative watchdog nonprofit, Accuracy in Media. In the video from February, an undercover representative speaks with Evan Whitfield, Coppell ISD’s director of curriculum and instruction.
Paxton’s office claims Coppell ISD broke a state law forbidding schools from teaching that “one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex,” and “requiring an understanding of the 1619 Project,” which is a New York Times project that claims that the arrival of enslaved Africans in 1619, not 1776, marks the real start of the United States.
The attorney general says that Whitfield noted the district’s use of “Next General Science Standards” (NGSS) curriculum, which Paxton’s office is accusing the district of employing.
Texas is one of six states that doesn’t use the NGSS curriculum. The NGSS K-12 science standards are based on a K-12 science education framework. These standards cover climate change education, emphasizing actions to curb atmospheric greenhouse gases.
Concerns over the environmental education content caused the state to reject these standards.
In the video, Whitfield states that, “one thing that I love about this district is that despite what our state standards say and despite what, you know, is going on, we do what’s right for kids.”
The lawsuit against the district includes this statement.
“Liberal administrators who want to ignore state law and unlawfully push divisive and racist CRT curriculum in classrooms will be held responsible for their actions,” said Paxton. “Texas children deserve to receive the best education in the world, not have woke ideology forced upon them. My lawsuit aims to put an immediate end to this illegal and hateful curriculum and immediately stop the blatant refusal to follow state law by certain officials at Coppell ISD.”
Libraries Warn They Could Be ‘Cut off at the Knees’ by DOGEA Trump executive order listing the Institute of Museum and Library Services as an unnecessary agency could mean rural libraries lose essential funding.
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/sout...
President Donald Trump signed an executive order listing the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as an "unnecessary" agency for review, aiming to cut operations and staffing for government efficiency.
The order threatens the existence of rural libraries, which heavily rely on federal funding for programs like interlibrary loans, research databases, and services for people with disabilities.
IMLS provides block grants and competitive grants for various programs, and its dismantling could delay or stop future funding, affecting libraries and museums across the US, particularly in rural and tribal communities.
Librarians are raising alarm over an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last week that could dismantle the agency that serves as the primary federal funding source for libraries and museums across the US.
The order lists the Institute of Museum and Library Services as one of several “unnecessary” agencies for review, with the explicit goal of cutting both operations and staffing in the name of government efficiency. Other agencies include those that support anti-homelessness, minority businesses and global media groups like Voice of America.
In a public statement on March 15, the American Library Association warned the the administration was “cutting off at the knees the most beloved and trusted of American institutions” and said “those who will feel that loss most keenly live in rural communities.” Rural libraries are more likely to depend on federal dollars to subsidize their budgets or on programs that extend the reach of information to their communities.
On Thursday morning, Keith Sonderling — who was recently confirmed as Trump’s Deputy Secretary of Labor — was sworn in as the acting director of IMLS at the lobby of the agency’s office in Washington, DC, accompanied by a security team and staff members from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Sonderling met with the agency leadership but did not interact with rank-and-file staffers, according to a statement sent to Bloomberg from AFGE Local 3403, the union representing IMLS staff.
“After departing the office, Sonderling sent an email to staff emphasizing the importance of libraries and museums in cultivating the next generation’s perception of American exceptionalism and patriotism,” the statement read. “The union looks forward to working with him in good faith to continue IMLS’s mission.”
Staffers were not provided further clarity on their employment status, though the union expects most to be placed on administrative leave over the weekend or on Monday. The union added that it was “unclear whether funding for existing grantees will continue, and whether new grants will be available in the future.”
In a statement, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said IMLS would be able to “better showcase American exceptionalism with greater efficiency” with Sonderling at the helm. The executive order is “cutting bureaucracy and bloat to deliver better services,” she added.
In Michigan, Trump’s executive order threatens the very existence of the Michigan Electronic Library, an interlibrary loan system that plays a critical role in getting books to rural residents and that operates largely on federal funding. “Our libraries are about information sharing, and we have found systems that are very unique and that make knowledge accessible to anyone in the entire state of Michigan,” said Michigan Library Association executive director Deborah Mikula. “Why would we want to decimate that?”
While most public libraries get the majority of their funding from state and local government, access to federal dollars can make the difference in funding things like interlibrary loans, research databases and programs for groups with disabilities. They also help fund additional services beyond books, including professional development programs, new computer labs for communities that lack home internet, and even training programs for librarians.
In Tennessee, for example, which receives over $3 million each year from IMLS, the fund supports, among other things, programs that provide reading and audio material for groups who may be visually challenged. The federal dollars also provide statewide training for staff on topics like STEM, children’s services and public library management. And in Massachusetts, part of a $3.6 million grant to libraries is put toward skill development programs to help job-seekers attract employers.
Established in 1996 under the Museum and Library Services Act, IMLS provides block grants and competitive grants for various programs — including research and leadership development — and for technology upgrades. In fiscal year 2024, IMLS was appropriated $266.7 million. The bulk of the funding, which is appropriated each year by Congress, is usually distributed to state library agencies, which determine how to split the money among various institutions, including public, school and academic libraries.
Rural and tribal libraries, which typically have fewer resources and smaller budgets, tend to rely more on federal funding, sometimes for basic operating services. Tribal libraries in Michigan, for instance, collectively received about $500,000 in IMLS grants in 2024 for both operations and community engagement programs. In total, the state could see an annual loss of $10 million distributed among hundreds of public, school and academic libraries as well as museums and historical organizations. That may amount to “small potatoes” within the federal budget, said Mikula, “but it’s significant when you look at the essential programs that are being funded by those dollars and how innovative and efficient we are at using them.”
In particular, Trump’s order seeks to reduce the functions of IMLS to only what is required by law, though it remains to be seen how the administration will interpret the distinction. A Friday deadline looms over each agency to submit a report detailing their operations to the Office of Management and Budget.
It’s unclear how much of IMLS’s operations the Trump administration can legally dismantle. While DOGE lacks the authority to review spending approved by Congress or defund federal agencies, the group has exercised broad powers to freeze and cancel funding at various departments. Plus, the agency’s budget through September 2026 had already been approved in the continuing resolution passed in Congress and signed by Trump last week — just hours before he issued the executive order to dismantle IMLS.
But advocates worry that even if the administration can’t claw back already-approved money, gutting the agency’s staff would delay the funding distribution. It could also stop any future funding.
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IMLS has largely received bipartisan support in the past, including during Trump’s first term when Congress reauthorized the Museum and Library Services Act in 2018 — and the president signed it into law. The reauthorization expires in September 2025, meaning the legislation will be up for reauthorization again later this year.
What’s happening with the Institute of Museum and Library Services after Trump’s executive orderhttps://apnews.com/article/institute-...
President Donald Trump has named a new acting director for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, one of seven independent government agencies cited in a recent executive order calling for their dismantling “to the maximum extent of the law.”
Trump said that the order “continues the reduction in the elements of the Federal bureaucracy that the President has determined are unnecessary.”
Since taking office, Trump has shuttered or drastically curtailed agencies, including the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Institute of Museum and Library of Services, or IMLS, is a key source of funding for museums, libraries and educational institutions.
IMLS was established in 1996 by a Republican-led Congress and has a mission to “advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development.” The institute combined the services of previous government agencies, including the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science and the Institute of Museum Services.
It distributes thousands of grants nationwide, totaling in recent years to more than $200 million annually. Awards in 2024 ranged from $240,000 for the Chicago History Museum to more than $1 million for several state library training programs named for former Republican first lady Laura Bush to nearly $25,000 for the Lorain Historical Society, which is based in the Ohio hometown of Nobel laureate Toni Morrison.
The new acting director, Keith Sonderling, had recently been confirmed as deputy secretary of the Department of Labor and was from 2020-2024 a commissioner on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He replaces Cyndee Landrum, who had been named acting director in March 2024.
“I am committed to steering this organization in lockstep with this Administration to enhance efficiency and foster innovation,” Sonderling said in a statement after his appointment Thursday. “We will revitalize IMLS and restore focus on patriotism, ensuring we preserve our country’s core values, promote American exceptionalism and cultivate love of country in future generations.”
During his first term, Trump repeatedly called for the IMLS to be shut down, but funding was maintained by Congress. The American Library Association in a statement this week condemned “eliminating the only federal agency dedicated to funding library services. ... The Trump administration’s executive order is cutting off at the knees the most beloved and trusted of American institutions and the staff and services they offer.”
The library association has advised members that the status of current grants remains unclear. If the administration follows the same playbook it has in targeting other small agencies for closure, IMLS could be shut down.
New director, DOGE visit puts future of libraries and museum funds in doubtLatest Trump cuts put summer reading, mobile libraries and local museums in jeopardy
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
Federal employees who work at a tiny agency that funds the nation's libraries and museums expect to be put on administrative leave in the next few days, less than a week after President Donald Trump ordered the agency to be effectively shuttered.
AFGE Local 3403, a branch of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a statement that the Institute of Museum and Library Services received new leadership from the Trump administration Thursday.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in congressionally approved funds to state libraries in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. and to library, museum, and archives programs through grants. It serves 35,000 museums and 123,000 libraries across the country, according to its website.
In the statement, the local branch of the federal workers union said Sonderling and DOGE staff met with agency leaders, but did not interact with the agency's fewer than 100 workers.
"Sonderling, an employment lawyer by trade, appears committed to following federal law in treating employees with respect," the statement says. "After departing the office, Sonderling sent an email to staff emphasizing the importance of libraries and museums in cultivating the next generation’s perception of American exceptionalism and patriotism. The union looks forward to working with him in good faith to continue (the Institute)’s mission with efficiency and innovation."
The Institute of Museum and Library Services supports museums, libraries, archives and other similar organizations through grants. The bulk of its budget goes to support basic library services, including high-speed internet access, Braille and talking books for people with visual impairments, and workforce development training.
During the 2024 fiscal year, the institute was budgeted more than $294 million, according to the Institute of Museum and Library Services' budget for 2023 to 2025. In 2024, the institute awarded $266.7 million to museums, libraries and archives throughout the country.
In a statement, the American Alliance of Museums said the executive order threatens jobs, education, conservation, and community programs. The Alliance also pushed back on the White House's efficiency argument, saying that the Institute receives just 0.0046% of the federal budget.
"This agency is incredibly efficient and does incredible work with the small amount of resources they are given," American Alliance of Museums spokeswoman Natanya Khashan told USA TODAY Thursday.
The American Library Association asked the president to reconsider his "short-sighted decision."
"By eliminating the only federal agency dedicated to funding library services, the Trump administration’s executive order is cutting off at the knees the most beloved and trusted of American institutions and the staff and services they offer," the statement says.
Among affected services will be summer reading programs for kids, and small business support for entrepreneurs, it says.
The Institute gives out hundreds of grants a year, which can be searched in their online database. Among the 1,252 grants issued in fiscal 2024 are hundreds of millions of dollars to state libraries based on population that is then distributed to libraries.
Many states, like Tennessee, use Institute grants help fund programs to provide books to deaf or blind patrons and to maintain the state library and archives. Many use it to provide high speed internet at rural libraries.
For example, in Wisconsin, the Children's Museum of Green Bay got $25,000 this year for educational programming and free museum admission to support reading programs at rural libraries in Northeast Wisconsin. The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho in Idaho Falls got $10,350 for a teen mentoring program that includes field trips.
In Texas, the University of Texas at Austin, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, one of the nation's top repositories of expert advice on native plants in North America, received $115,214 to develop and test its seed bank.
Washington State Librarian Sara Jones told local TV station King5 that losing the money would impact every library in the state. She said it could mean no ebooks for rural libraries, and a reduction in access to research databases and digital newspapers.
The Senate sponsor of FL’s SB 1692 [said] to Read Project that books like “Unicorns are the Worst!” shouldn’t be purchased with taxpayers $$ because it’s inappropriate for school libraries. “Parents that want it, can buy it.”They don’t want to fund access to protected speech they don’t like.
https://bsky.app/profile/flfreedomrea...
One goblin behind is inappropriate for schools? He's washing his clothes so he can't be wearing clothes at the same time.
The Power of Resistance: Fighting Book Bans Before It’s Too Latehttps://www.freedomtoreadproject.org/...
Malinda Lo @malindalo.bsky.socialMany authors are getting their books — their art — banned by people who know nothing about the purpose of art, people who care nothing about the meaning of novels. I guarantee you none of these authors believe getting banned is a badge of honor. It’s an insult, every time.
https://msmagazine.com/2025/03/05/the...
Education
National
News & Opinion
The Publishers and Authors Fighting Back Against Book Bans
PUBLISHED 3/5/2025 by Leslie Absher
“The people who make these claims aren’t interested in engaging with the meaning or purpose of art; they’re only interested in excluding and erasing queer people.”
A person holds a placard at a “Walkout 2 Learn” rally to protest Florida education policies outside Orlando City Hall on April 21, 2023, in Orlando. (Paul Hennessy / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
A number of prominent U.S. publishers, including the “Big 5”—Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers and Simon & Schuster—along with Sourcebooks and several best-selling young adult authors, parents, teens and a library district, filed a lawsuit last week against an Idaho bill that restricts access to books accused of inappropriate “sexual content.”
The lawsuit is the latest in an ongoing battle against right-wing book bans, which often target LGBTQ+ content under the guise of “protecting children.” It comes in response to an Idaho bill, HB 710, which became law in 2024, and stipulates that it is illegal for schools and public libraries to make “harmful” books accessible to minors.
HB 710 put libraries in an impossible situation, forcing librarians to guess which books might offend someone and remove them from the young adult section. Sherry Scheline, director of the Donnelly Public Library, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said during last week’s news conference that the law “caused a crisis in our community.” Scheline said the ruling had turned the community’s library into an “adults only” library.
Evidence of the misleading and toxic rhetoric surrounding book bans can be seen in a new press release posted by the Trump administration’s far-right agenda—”U.S. Department of Education Ends Biden’s Book Ban Hoax”—which announces its dismissal of 11 complaints against book bans and claiming to begin the process of “restoring the fundamental rights of parents to direct their children’s education.”
But book bans are no hoax.
According to a PEN report, there have been nearly six thousand instances of book bans between 2021 and 2023 in the U.S., and of these, 83 percent represent books written for young adults or younger audiences. The bans predominantly come from three far right advocacy groups—Moms for Liberty, Citizens Defending Freedom and Parents’ Rights in Education—who have pushed for book bans in 81 percent of the school districts in the U.S. that have enacted restrictions.
But the truth is, most people in the country are opposed to book bans. According to PEN, 92 percent of parents, grandparents and guardians trust librarians to curate appropriate books and materials, including making recommendations for their children.
Despite the unpopularity of book bans, the U.S. is seeing new trends in the efforts to remove books from shelves. According to the American Library Association, right-wing actors are now trying to ban books at public libraries, not just school libraries. Many of the bans are specifically targeting stories by and about LGBTQ+ people and people of color. According to PEN, banned books overwhelmingly include stories with people and characters of color (44 percent) as well as LGBTQ+ characters (39 percent).
States have moved from going after school libraries to going after public ones, and from simply removing books to criminalizing the work of librarians.
Dashka Slater
The lawsuit against the Idaho book ban aims to push back against these recent trends.
Ms. spoke with two best-selling authors who joined the lawsuit against the state of Idaho—Dashka Slater, author of a number of books for young readers including The 57 Bus, and Malinda Lo, author of Last Night at the Telegraph Club, as well as seven other novels for young readers.
“The climate, overall, has gotten worse, unfortunately,” Slater said, when asked if she thinks the book banning climate has changed. “States have moved from going after school libraries to going after public ones, and from simply removing books to criminalizing the work of librarians. In Utah, students are now not allowed to even bring their personal copies of banned books onto school campuses.”
Despite this, Slater points to positive developments. “Publishers are fighting back. They have the resources and the lawyers to do so. At the same time, we know that book bans are incredibly unpopular even among conservatives. I’ve seen attempts to ban my book turned back in district after district when teachers, parents, students and librarians spoke up.”
In her public newsletter on Substack, Slater says she is “delighted to be fighting back.”
“Right now is a particularly dark time for our country—the darkest I’ve ever witnessed. We’re losing so many hard-fought rights and freedoms, and it can feel like we’re boxing with shadows, with immensely well-funded and invisible enemies, many of them unelected and unaccountable. So it’s gratifying to be able to stand up against something so clearly wrong, and to put my name down as someone who won’t sit quietly by, who still believes in the Constitution.
Malinda Lo, author of Last Night at The Telegraph Club, a National Book Award-winning coming of age story about a young queer Chinese American girl growing up in 1950s San Francisco, tracks how many times her books have been banned on her website—thus far, she’s counted 96 cases of banned or censored books across 20 states. “It’s not a badge of honor to have my creative work denigrated as obscene, especially when that work is about queer people and people of color,” she says. “It’s offensive to have my work mischaracterized this way.”
“The claim that ‘queer content’ is ‘inappropriate’ for young readers is homophobic and transphobic,” Lo adds. “The people who make these claims aren’t interested in engaging with the meaning or purpose of art; they’re only interested in excluding and erasing queer people. It’s impossible to have a good-faith discussion about appropriate books for young readers with these people.”
FloridaFlorida Freedom to Read Project @flfreedomread.bsky.social
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11d
A sex education course offered yearly to help students avoid pregnancy, disease and dating violence has been quietly scrapped by the Palm Beach County School District.
https://web.archive.org/web/202503092...
This bill requires new editions of books referencing Gulf of Mexico.One impacted FL classic is “A Land Remembered.” If new editions aren’t published, purchasing new copies of the books when the current ones become too worn would be prohibited under this law.
https://floridaphoenix.com/briefs/mea...
Words related to DEI, climate change, vaccines and a host of other topics are being scrubbed from government websites.“How can we have intelligent or difficult conversations if we can’t even use the words, the most basic unit of meaning?” asks @jonfreadom.bsky.social
https://pen.org/banned-words-list/
PEANUT ALLERGIES? Autism? Elderly? Tribal? Native American? LGBTQ+! Mental health? orientation? Obesity? PREJUDICE? So like is Pride & Prejudice now banned?
“How can we have intelligent or difficult conversations if we can’t even use the words, the most basic unit of meaning?” said Jonathan Friedman, Sy Syms managing director of U.S. Free Expression Programs. “We’re now living in a country where the government has decided that a sweeping array of everyday terms will now be erased and forbidden in government agencies, websites, or even scientific research proposals. These prohibitions on language are utterly chilling, and will impede efforts to research real world problems and advance human knowledge.”
*sigh* What happened to "just schools"? And since when are teens the same as 5 year olds? I think they can judge for themselves what they want to read and can handle. All I wanted to read was Anne of Green Gables and I found very little in the library to interest me. I would not have read any of the contemporary novels that are so popular now but I know everyone else in my school would have liked those better. No one is forcing anyone to read any given book from the public library!
Horrible news from Alabama:
Alabama board defunds local library for failing to protect teens from ‘inappropriate’ books
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/22/us/ala...
The Alabama Public Library Service Board of Trustees voted Thursday to withhold state funding from the Fairhope Public Library after complaints from conservative parents about books in the teen section. In the same meeting, the board voted to immediately dismiss the executive director of the state library agency, who had been planning to resign.
Board Chairman John Wahl, who is also the chair of the Alabama Republican Party, said board members believe the Fairhope library is in violation of state policies to protect children from inappropriate materials. The books cited by the upset parents included “Sold,” a National Book Award finalist about a girl who is sold into s--ual slavery in India.
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“I think that the GOP chair on the State Library Board is forcing the removal of books just because of anti-library extremists. I think that’s ignoring the voices of Fairhope taxpayers and library users,” said Amber Frey of Read Freely Alabama, an organization that has opposed the restrictions.
The action against the Fairhope Library is the first taken under a new Alabama law and 2024 administrative code changes that say to receive state funding, local libraries must have policies to safeguard youth from “s--ually explicit or other material deemed inappropriate for children or youth.”
Wahl said they aren’t trying to ban the books, but he maintained the state code requires “the actual relocation of these books out of youth sections.”
“We are unapologetic about standing up for Alabama families and putting them in control, even if that means temporarily defunding local libraries until they can be compliant,” Wahl said.
He said parents objecting to the books read excerpts during the meeting to demonstrate why they believe the books do not belong in the teen section.
Clean Up Alabama, a group that along with Moms for Liberty had sought restrictions, praised the decision. ...
The secretary of the board of the Fairhope Public Library said they were shocked by the action.
“We’re devastated and really stunned by this. We had no warning that this was going to happen,” Randal Wright said.
Several years ago, the library received complaints against 35 books and went through a review process, Wright said. The director declined to move them after determining they were appropriate for teens.
Wright said they recently received a request to revisit that decision because of the new state policies. She said the board declined to move them.
“We had looked at those books, and we stuck by that decision,” Wright said.
Wright said she believes the challenges were filed by a small number of people. The overall community is supportive of its library, she said.
Read Freely Alabama has started a fundraiser for the Fairhope library to try to replace the $42,000 in state funding. The group had raised $8,000 by Friday afternoon.
The state board on Thursday also dismissed Nancy Pack, who has led the library service since 2014. Pack had planned on resigning at the end of September. Wahl said there had been friction between Pack and some board members who believed she was hostile to the policies they were trying to implement.
Pack has spent over 30 years as a librarian and has been honored as a distinguished alumni of the University of Tennessee’s School of Information Sciences.
“Libraries have never been political,” Pack said, adding that the attacks on librarians and libraries have been distressing.
“We have seen more librarians retire rather than go through what we’re having to go through at this time,” she said.
California has an anti-book ban lawhttps://www.sbsun.com/2025/03/21/rule...
https://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/20...
curiously both behind an ad block wall...
Expect all books about the Holocaust to be banned from Department of Defense schools along with all the rest of the usual suspects.https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/19/politi...
Mod
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/19/politi......"
Considering that Holocaust denial is illegal in Germany, would Department of Defence schools in Germany still be allowed to ban books about the Holocaust? Probably, yes, but that should not be allowed.
Manybooks wrote: "Considering that Holocaust denial is illegal in Germany, would Department of Defence schools in Germany still be allowed to ban books about the Holocaust? Probably, yes, but that should not be allowed..."Yes because they're U.S. schools that happen to be in Germany for children of military personnel stationed there. They have to follow U.S. Department of Defense rules. The DOD is making excuses that AI scrubbed too many weblinks and they have to go back and reconsider what should be put back up.
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Would the children of military personnel stationed abroad be allowed to attend schools in Germany (and elsewhere) that are not DoD, or would that get them and their parents in trouble?
Manybooks wrote: "Would the children of military personnel stationed abroad be allowed to attend schools in Germany (and elsewhere) that are not DoD, or would that get them and their parents in trouble?"I don't know but I assume if they live on base they have to attend the school there. The internet says yes they can attend local schools or homeschool if there's no DODEA school https://www.militaryonesource.mil/ben...
But I imagine it would be rough attending a school where you don't speak the language and where you may have to leave in the middle of the year. I don't know any military families so I can only tell you what I found online.
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I hope that every member of that "delegation" has a very horrible time and faces major animosity and nastiness from the people of Greenland.
Manybooks wrote: "https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/us-gree...I hope that every member of that "delegation" has a very horrible time and faces major animosity and nastiness from the people of Greenland."
They have polar bears in Greenland don't they?
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I hope that every member of that "delegation" has a very horrible time and faces major animosity and nastiness from the..."
Yup, they do and I kind of hope they have a smorgasbord (to use a Danish name).
Mod
Just another reason to despise Trump supporters and books banners and to make sure that our sovereignty remains intact.
But my partner and I have purchased two copies of Pride Puppy!!!
Manybooks wrote: "https://www.timescolonist.com/local-n...Just another reason to despise Trump supporters and books banners and to mak..."
Wow the book isn't even that good! There's no story. It's the seek and find the parents find objectionable.
I'm just catching up on the news and it's not good AT ALL.
This week's round-up from Kelly Jensen of BookRiothttps://bookriot.com/biggest-book-cen...
Alabama
The Athens-Limestone County Public Library is being accused of having “inappropriate” materials in the collection, so now the board has had to issue a statement explaining the lies being spread about said books.
https://whnt.com/news/athens/athens-l...
The statement released Saturday states that, before the tenure of Vicki Hereford on the board, a parent reached out and emailed “unsolicited graphic images” from a book called “Let’s Talk About It.”
The board said this book is a graphic novel format marketed to teens and said, in the email to Hereford, that the parent acknowledged that the library did not own a copy of the book.
The board of trustees said other news articles said the parent mentioned another book called “It’s Perfectly Normal,” but the board said the email to Hereford did not mention that book. The board did acknowledge that the library had a copy of this book but that it was shelved in the adult collection because of its purchase in 2010.
“While the book advertises on its cover that it is for age 10 and up, because of the images and material in the book, the library believed it was inappropriate for that age level and placed it in the adult section,” the Board of Trustees said.
“Athens-Limestone County Public Library Board of Trustees
The Athens-Limestone County Public Library and its board of trustees are committed to the common-sense proposition, shared by the vast majority of citizens in Limestone County, that only age-appropriate materials be located in the youth sections of our library. Any reports that suggest otherwise are dead wrong.
The ALCPL Board of Trustees is and always has been made up of Athens and Limestone County citizens appointed by the local governments. All the board members meet this qualification. Newly appointed board member Vicki Hereford’s qualifications also include an extensive, professional background in finance and academia, and she is known across our community as a conservative mother of three now-grown sons. She is a welcome addition to the board and we look forward to her championing a conservative approach to decisions concerning library operations and materials purchased for children.
Before Ms. Hereford’s tenure as a board member began, a concerned parent emailed unsolicited graphic images from a book called “Let’s Talk About It”, a book in graphic novel format marketed to teens. The parent’s email acknowledged that Athens-Limestone County Public Library does not own a copy of this book. That is correct, and there are no plans for our library to ever have a copy of this book. The images sent to Ms. Hereford were very s---ually graphic. Ms. Hereford was disturbed by opening an email to see these unsolicited graphic images and she replied by insisting that the parent not send her those kinds of images.
Some news articles have mentioned another book called “It’s Perfectly Normal”. The parent’s emails to Ms. Hereford never mentioned that book and never sent images from that book. The library owns a copy of “It’s Perfectly Normal”, and it has been shelved in the adult collection since it was purchased in 2010. While the book advertises on its cover that it is for age 10 and up, because of the images and material in the book, the library believed it was inappropriate for that age level and placed it in the adult section.
The selection of materials for the library is an on-going process guided by the principle that the collection reflects our community’s beliefs, standards, growth and diversity. The library has clear policies and procedures to help guide purchasing and placement decisions, and it takes positive action to continually review and evaluate its Children’s and Young Adult collection to ensure the collection aligns with current guidelines set by the Alabama Public Library Service.”
“The Board of Trustees has endorsed the policy that while any one individual is free to reject any books or materials that don’t meet their individual approval, this right of individual censorship cannot be used to restrict the freedom of other individuals to read the materials they choose. The Library will make efforts to properly categorize materials in such a way that certain materials as stated herein are not placed in Juvenile or Young Adult sections, however, the responsibility for the choice of library material for minors rests with their parents or legal guardians."
[T]hose who are in “good standing” with the library can request that materials be withdrawn or reconsidered. The section says that pieces of work will then be evaluated as a whole, not by “excerpts taken out of context.”
The ALCPL materials selection process information guide also said that something will not be removed or relocated without proof that the item violates the ALCPL Material Selection Policy.
To request that material be reconsidered by the library, a member can fill out a “citizen’s request for reconsideration of library material” form found below.
A Texas bill that would allow school boards to make final decisions on books acquired in school libraries, rather than trained librarians, is one step closer to passing.https://myparistexas.com/texas-senate...
The Texas Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would give parents more power over which books their children can read in public school libraries.
The measure was approved Wednesday by a 23-8 vote. Introduced last month by Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, Senate Bill 13 would represent an overhaul of how schools decide what books are placed in their libraries. The bill now heads to the Texas House.
SB 13 would require that school boards, rather than librarians, have the final say over which new books or materials can be put in school libraries. The bill would also create a way for parents to challenge any library book and have it removed from shelves until the school board decides whether that material is allowed.
Under SB 13, each school district would also be required to have local advisory councils — with parents of students in the district making up a majority of voting members — that would recommend which books should be added and removed from school libraries. Additionally, the bill would not allow schools to have library materials that have “indecent content or profane content,” which can include books that use “grossly offensive” language.
During a committee hearing last month, Paxton characterized the bill as a way to address parents’ concerns about s---ally explicit content in Texas’ public school libraries. She added the legislation “clarifies parental rights with respect to school libraries.” It comes as the Senate is also considering a proposal that would amend the state constitution to enshrine parents’ right to direct their child’s education.
...
A similar proposal passed the Senate but didn’t get a vote on the House floor last session.
The bill would build on House Bill 900, a law passed in 2023 to keep se---ally explicit content off of bookshelves. Last year, a federal appeals court blocked Texas from enforcing parts of the law that required book vendors to assign ratings to books based on the presence of or depictions of s-x, saying it was unconstitutionally broad. Since then, Texas conservatives have increased their push for new legislation. This session, SB 13 is one of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s legislative priorities.
But the proposal has also drawn harsh criticism from school librarians and anti-censorship advocates, who say it would make it easier for school districts to target and remove books about people of color and involving LGBTQ+ characters.
The measure comes as book bans have increased
...
“Our communities are diverse and that’s the power and beauty of the communities to have so many different experiences available for our students to learn from,” Lucy Podmore, a public school librarian and former chair of the Texas Association of School Librarians, told The Texas Tribune last month. “It’s imperative that when we say ‘parents’ and ‘parental choice’ and ‘parents are the final say’ that we include all parents — that we’re not just giving voice to a select few.”
The library bill also raises some logistical concerns. In requiring school boards to approve each new library material, a responsibility traditionally overseen by school librarians, the bill’s proposed process would make it more difficult for libraries to obtain new books in a timely manner, librarians say. As a result, critics add, the bill could lead to school-aged children reading less, even as Texas students are still recovering academically from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shirley Robinson, executive director of the Texas Library Association, said it’s “critically important” for libraries throughout the state to either maintain or increase the number of books available to students given the lagging reading scores. But the Senate proposal, she said, would create new obstacles toward achieving that — and potentially hamper spending on school library books in the long term.
“Budgets are based on what the spending was the prior year,” Robinson said. “So if we are essentially putting roadblocks and barriers up for those campus library budgets to be spent, they’re going to continue to be reduced further and further every single year.”
The local advisory councils created under the bill would recommend removing library materials that have “indecent content or profane content.” According to the bill, these councils would also make recommendations to ensure “that local community values are reflected” in public school libraries in their districts.
Education advocates say it’s unclear what the phrase “local community values” is supposed to mean. For Emily Witt, an author at the progressive-leaning Texas Freedom Network, it’s an open question about which community values are being upheld. The answer to that question, she said, may vary depending on the makeup of a given community and result in majority voices having an outsized opinion over what materials are available for all students to choose to read.
“Parents do have the right to control the education of their children, absolutely, but I think that creating laws like this and stoking fear in parents puts out the message that it’s not okay for their kids to learn about people who are different from them,” Witt said. “I think that does a disservice to parents as well.”
...
SB 13 is expected to swiftly pass the Senate. All 20 Republican senators sponsored the proposal. A date for the vote hasn’t been set yet.
A blocked story summarized by Kelly Jensen of BookRiot:“Carrie Schmidt sent photos of Gardner Edgerton High School [KS] to Libs of TikTok page & filed a lawsuit citing President Donald Trump’s order.” She was banned from the school property and is now allowed back on.
https://www.kansascity.com/news/local...
Shocking and terrifying -CONNECTICUT? Puritans still.The Suffield Library Commission (CT) is considering banning young people from LGBTQ+ books.
https://www.ctinsider.com/journalinqu...
Even though California is an ant-book ban state, Redlands Unified School District hit a stalemate in debating whether to remove “s--ual content" from school libraries, ban certain flags, and more anti-queer policies.Thanks to Kelly Jensen of BookRiot for getting this information from a blocked story.
https://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/20...
Horrifying news from TennesseeThe Linebaugh Library Board is removing any and all books with the topics of “transgenderism", body dysmorphia, gender identity and similar subjects. This library is part of the Rutherford County Public Library system.
https://mainstreetmediatn.com/article...
The Linebaugh Library Board voted to remove a book that contains “too mature material for children” and then voted to remove all books that have sections about [transgender issues], body dysmorphia, gender identity and similar subjects at a meeting on March 17.
The book is “Me and My Body Dysphoria Monster,” by Laura Kate Dale. The children’s picture book has been in the Linebaugh Library since 2022 and has been checked out eight times, according to Linebaugh Library Board Chair Phil King.
The board voted 5-2-1 for removal with Marzee Woodward, Sam Huddleston, Dina Piazza, Susan Quesenberry and Cody York voting for removal. Kory Wells and Benjamin Groce voted to keep the book. Rollie Holden Jr. abstained and board member Lisa Brewer was absent from the meeting,
Ten people spoke at the meeting both in favor and opposed to the book removal, each passionately expressing their views. The audience reacted with each speech, causing King to ask them to be quiet.
King read the complaint about the book made by a Murfreesboro resident referred to only as “Alice.” The complaint said the book would cause harm to children and contained false information, although details about that information were not in the complaint.
King said the library staff recommended keeping the book in circulation in the children’s area.
“Gender dysphoria is real,” interim library director Mindy Barrett said. “Not everyone who is transgender has gender dysphoria. So, we’re talking about something that is factual, and making sure that it’s real, whether or not you believe that someone can be transgender or not. Gender dysphoria is a real psychological distress.”
Woodward recommended that the book be removed, citing her years as a schoolteacher and Bible teacher. She said she believes the book is “too mature material for children. I believe we must protect our children. We’re causing confusion in children. I think we’re putting things in children’s heads sometimes.”
Wells said she had concerns about removing books.
“Obviously you feel very passionate about this, and I appreciate it very much,” she said. “I think there is a serious impact for us removing it completely in terms of serving our community and also in terms of possibly being sued. We clearly have books like this in our library. A library is supposed to bring people together and if we cannot find a way to serve all of our community, then we are not doing our job.”
Later in the meeting, York, Woodward, Piazza, Quesenberry and Huddleston voted to remove all books that deal with transgender issues.
York made the motion to remove all of those books, citing state law and board policy and said that the library system would be breaking the law to keep them in the library.
“My thought process is I believe we legally can remove books which are factually incorrect,” York said. “We also have an obligation to protect children.”
He said that the library would not allow books that encourage smoking by young people and therefore, books about being transgender and gender identity should also be removed.
Wells asked exactly what “gender confusion” meant in the motion.
“I had gender confusion from 1971 in second grade and I was not allowed to listen to ‘Casey at the Bat,’ because that was a story for boys,” she said. “I’m worried about the slippery slope. What is gender confusion? If there is a character in a book that is wearing a skirt, is that gender confusion? Where are definitions?”
Barrett had pleaded with the board to postpone voting for the removal of books with those topics until a new director is hired.
FloridaGOP officials target LGBTQ+ displays in Largo, Palm Harbor library
https://www.axios.com/local/tampa-bay...
Summary:
Two Republican elected officials are pressing local libraries to remove LGBTQ+ displays from their youth areas.
The libraries in Palm Harbor and Largo are the latest institutions to face GOP pushback over their attempts to support LGBTQ+ children and teenagers.
Pinellas Commissioner Vince Nowicki has drafted a resolution that would ban materials that depict, refer to or promote s--ual identity in the Palm Harbor Library's children's room.
That includes but isn't limited to posters, artwork, pamphlets and brochures as well as oral presentations and storytelling events, per a draft resolution he shared with Axios.
It's the second time in two years that a Palm Harbor Library display supporting the LGBTQ+ community has drawn ire from GOP county commissioners.
Meanwhile, state Rep. Berny Jacques, R-Seminole, threatened to withhold state funding from the city of Largo if officials didn't remove similar materials at the Largo Public Library, according to a letter he sent to Mayor Woody Brown and shared on social media.
"Parents have the sole right and responsibility to educate their children on these sensitive topics," Jacques wrote.
Zoom in: The materials at the Palm Harbor Library that Nowicki objected to include a display of children's book authors who are part of the LGBTQ+ community, a Lego "Everyone Is Awesome" set and a brochure with lists of LGBTQ+ books by category, plus a QR code that links to local and national resources, according to photos he shared with Axios.
Nowicki emphasized his resolution wouldn't ban any books. It also wouldn't prohibit LGBTQ+ materials in a separate library space dedicated to teenagers, he said. The children's room serves patrons up to age 12 and their parents.
"My resolution would simply prohibit the promotion of s--ual identity via displays and pamphlets in the children's section," he said, adding that parents should decide when to bring up that topic.
Nowicki saw the materials while on a recent tour of the library, at the invitation of library leadership.
Staff have since removed the items "in an abundance of caution," library director Matthew David said Monday.
Prior to Nowicki raising the issue, staff hadn't received complaints about the materials, which had been on display for less than a year, David said.
In fact, he said the library compiled the brochure that listed LGBTQ+ books because multiple patrons requested such a resource. "It's all in response to what the public is asking for," David said.
An Axios reporter's walk through the Largo Public Library's children's wing on Monday included just one item that Jacques shared on X as evidence for his letter: a brochure titled "LGBTQIA+ Picture Books."
The Progress Pride flag Jacques shared a photo of was in the library's teen room, which is designated for ages 13 and up.
Mayor Woody Brown told Axios that teens who frequented the library put up the flag themselves.
What they're saying: Materials dealing with s---al identity shouldn't be accessible to kids without their parents, Brown said, "but that's just not the case in our library."
"We serve a lot of people and all kinds of different people," he said, "and I don't see a problem with what we have in our library right now."
OregonSalem debates school library book restrictions amid 'freedom to read' bill
https://kpic.com/news/local/salem-deb...
A heated debate is unfolding at the Oregon State Capitol over the content of books available in school libraries.
The discussion centers around a proposed bill, championed by State Senator Lew Frederick, D-22, which aims to prevent schools from removing books based on their topic or author.
"It's the freedom to read," said Sen. Frederick. "I want people to read as much as possible. The idea that someone can tell you what to read is—we need an educated Oregon, not an indoctrinated one."
Sen. Frederick and other legislators express concern that individuals and groups, often with no direct connection to the schools, are attempting to limit students' access to certain books. "Many people who are challenging books don't have connections to the school," he said. "They're not a parent, not related to schools. They see this as a culture war, cancel culture taking place."
The list of challenged books includes well-known titles such as "The Color Purple," "Beloved," and "All Quiet on the Western Front," as well as magazines like Rolling Stone.
Sen. Frederick noted, "I've been around long enough to see people object to 'Huckleberry Finn' or parts of the Bible."
However, State Representative Christine Drazan, R-51, offered a contrasting viewpoint. "When we have books in our libraries which are not age-appropriate, that is a point at which families have spoken up and spoken out," Drazan said. "Our schools need to be a place that represents their values and community values."
Representative Dwayne Yunker, R-03, recently read a passage from the book The Haters on the Oregon House floor to oppose the bill, highlighting concerns over content he deemed inappropriate for children.
"Before I read a section of the book on page 265, I want to highlight rules on the floor prohibiting profane and indecent language," Yunker said. "But children are able to use it because [these books] are provided for them in the library."
Drazan further criticized the bill, stating, "This has been taken over by really a part of our most sort of extreme progressive wing of our state to expose kids to stuff that we can't even see on the house floor."
Sen. Frederick dismissed the protest as a political stunt, arguing that the bill is about more than just controversial topics. "It's not allowing people who say, 'I don't like gay people,' or parents who say, 'I don't want my kids talking about s--" Frederick said. "I don't know how to tell them, but kids are going to talk about s-x, and there are books that can help them work through that."
Despite the controversy, the bill has passed the work group and is set to move to the Senate floor before returning to the House.
The only objection to the passage being read on the floor came from Republican Rep. Kevin Mannix.
PennsylvaniaThe Library Board of Trustees in Susquehanna County (PA) has made a new policy that parents have full access to the library records of their children.
https://www.pahomepage.com/news/libra...
On Monday, the Library Board of Trustees in Susquehanna County amended a rule that allows parents to keep better track of the books their kids are borrowing.
This means parents, not children, are solely responsible for who can add or remove a name, giving access to a library account.
Before, kids could keep their checkout history private from their parents.
After the ruling, there was mixed a reaction.
“Children are the responsibility of the parents, not of the state and not of the library,” Uniondale resident Louise Cator said.
“It’s not appropriate for a board to legislate their ideals of parenting or what they feel is appropriate or not. That is up to the parents,” Susan English from Montrose stated.
The Library Board of Trustees states the new policy is in compliance with state laws, which grant parents access to their child’s records at federally funded institutions, such as libraries.
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Let's simply tell the truth, anyone who is openly transphobic, and this includes Donald Trump and company, is simply and utterly horrid in every conceivable way. But also, people who are really afraid of transgender and intersexuality, for me this means that they likely have issues with their own sexuality but are afraid of this and of themselves.
QNPoohBear wrote: "Brevard County Public Schools (FL) put up an intentionally biased committee to review several books. The committee has recommended banning three titles. The final decision on the future of the book..."Follow-up
Banning books is disgusting.
https://www.floridatoday.com/story/ne...
Brevard's school board bans 3 young adult novels for s--ual content
The books will be permanently banned for all grade levels.
Tasked to review three young adult novels for possible removal, Brevard Public Schools' book review committee was in agreement: The titles were interesting and told important stories, but they shared one problem.
Whether it was a repeated theme or a passage that spanned only a few paragraphs, all three contained too much sex and shouldn't be on BPS bookshelves, committee members — selected by the school board — agreed.
In a brief March 12 meeting — held during National Reading Month — four members of the recently revived group agreed "Breathless" by Jennifer Niven, "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez and "Last Night at the Telegraph Club" by Malinda Lo should be pulled for all grades.
On Tuesday night, with no discussion, Brevard's school board unanimously concurred with their recommendation, permanently banning the books from all public schools in the county. Board member John Thomas was not present for the meeting.
Portions of the selections — all young adult novels exploring themes like identity, love and family — violate state statute, according to the committee.
Members have become more stringent since the passage of House Bill 1069 in 2023, a law that dictates what is and is not allowed in school libraries and classrooms. Along the same lines, Brevard Public Schools has given much attention to book selections since parents and community members began debating the content of books in 2022...
In a meeting that lasted about 30 minutes, the committee voted unanimously to remove all three books.
While they took issue with the racial slurs used in "Out of Darkness," their main problem with the three titles was the s--ual content.
"I would agree that it's a violation (of state statute), a direct violation, in many instances, up to and including the (view spoiler) said Karen Colby, Gene Trent's appointee, of "Out of Darkness," which tells the story of the a Mexican American girl and an African American boy falling in love in the wake of the 1937 New London school explosion.
"This doesn't need to be in our school. This is a hard no."
Ana Woodbrey, appointed by Matt Susin and a media specialist at a beachside middle school, looked at reviews available to media specialists before selecting books and said "Breathless" was recommended for students in ninth grade and up.
"It does mention there is a s-x-positive summer for her and other descriptions like that," she said. "But the descriptions of the se--al scenes are in violation of the statute."
Michael Howell, Katye Campbell's appointee, complimented the writing in all the books, going as far as to say he would almost recommend "Last Night at the Telegraph Club." He expressed frustration that the text included s----al content.
"Literally six paragraphs are what this book is going to be either be kept or removed on, and that is so frustrating," Michael Howell said of "Last Night at the Telegraph Club," comparing its literary merit to "The Kite Runner."
"That is so frustrating."
Colby said the book, which tells the story of a Chinese-American lesbian in 1950s San Francisco, would still be available at public libraries and to purchase.
"For the Asian lesbians that need to explore or whatever, they can find it, they can read this tonight, they can order it in an hour," Colby said.
She and Anthony Catanese, John Thomas' appointee and former president of Florida Tech, questioned why the books included s--al content to begin with.
"I thought the historical part, the cultural part and even the notes at the end were very interesting," Catanese said. "But then you want to know, well, why did (the author) do this? Why did she put in all that other stuff?"
"It's against the law and it's child grooming," Colby said. "I mean, we're supposed to sit here and think that it's OK to have our kids at school reading books about taking her hand and putting it up on ... yeah, no."
Catanese expressed a lack of familiarity with how books are reviewed by media specialists and purchased at BPS in the first place, as well as whether or not the books under review were already in school libraries.
"We're constantly reviewing collections, not only ... with the statute in mind, but we look at checkout data," said Tara Harris, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. "These are books that are in our collection that received a formal objection."
Ashley Hall, Megan Wright's appointee, was not present.
No other books are up for review at this time, so no future committee meetings have been scheduled.
The book review process has been revised multiple times since the initial committee was formed in 2022.
The five-member committee is chaired by a non-voting media specialist. In 2022, soon after Wright and Trent took office, the two — along with Susin — said they wanted to restrict voting power to appointed committee members and cited concerns about a "conflict of interest" in allowing media specialists to have a vote. Instead, board members would appoint their own members.
The policy was revised again in 2023 to include language from HB 1069, with this revision shifting the final decision-making power to the school board rather than the committee members. The board ignored committee members' recommendations numerous times regarding whether or not to keep, restrict to certain grade levels or entirely ban books, with their decisions made largely based on their own interpretations of HB 1069 or their personal feelings about a book.
The committee was halted again between September 2024 and March due to members resigning.
...
The district's media website shows that at least 41 books previously available have been restricted to certain grades or banned entirely throughout the whole district, including the three titles board members voted on at Tuesday's meeting.
The list of books removed on a school-by-school basis is much more extensive. Records obtained by FLORIDA TODAY from the 2023-2024 school year showed the district pulled 169 books, citing House Bill 1069, a law that lays out what can and can't be taught in schools. Some of these titles were duplicates. There are additional books listed on the district's website that have been pulled at some schools.
Also in FloridaPasco County Public Libraries is creating new cards for parents to restrict access to what their child can borrow.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/educati...
Pasco County unveiled a new policy Tuesday designed to give parents more control over the books their children can access in public libraries.
Beginning Wednesday, parents will be able to get a children’s library card for youngsters ages 15 and under. The card, which is optional, will restrict its holders to borrowing materials from the juvenile collection and items marked as school-required.
It will not include access to electronic material, young adult or adult books.
Parents still may allow their children to have full access to the entire library collection when they register their children for a card.
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Last fall, the library system removed more than 100 titles from its shelves after Commissioner Seth Weightman suggested that some “disturbing” content was too easily accessible to children. He mentioned “Calvin,” a picture book about a transgender child, saying one patron had complained about it.
Commissioners discussed at that time the possibility of permanently pulling the books, several of which appear on the Florida Department of Education’s list of challenged titles, along with others that contain certain topics. Many of those related to LGBTQ+ characters and issues.
At the advice of legal counsel, they asked the library staff and advisory board to recommend steps to address the situation.
The staff updated its rules requiring children to have parent or guardian supervision while in the libraries. It also recommended the children’s library card, which mirrors the process used in Hillsborough County.
Rather than permanently removing books, the staff began an audit of materials in the children’s sections to determine whether some titles would be better placed where adults can get them but they aren’t readily available to all children. That way, the books would remain in the library with more controls for parents.
County spokesperson Sarah Andeara said that review is ongoing. In the meantime, all the books removed in the fall remain off the shelves.
Some residents have noted several books they have requested were rejected for purchase by the library. Among them are “Celestial Monsters” by Aiden Thomas, a transgender author; “Compound Fracture” by Andrew Joseph White, which includes several LBGTQ+ teen characters; and “Flopping in a Winter Wonderland” by Jason June, described by its publisher as an " LGBTQ+ young adult rom-com."
Andeara said the system has “temporarily paused purchasing new titles in these genres” until the library can complete the book audit and relocation.
During public comment Tuesday, resident Valerie Chilton of Port Richey urged commissioners to consider doing away with what she called “disturbing materials,” saying other counties have done so. If the commission’s lawyers have recommended otherwise, Chilton said, perhaps the commission should hire new lawyers.
“Let’s save our innocents,” she said.
Texas Seven books were removed from the Georgetown Independent School District high school shelves.https://www.statesman.com/picture-gal...
Georgetown Librarian Susan Cooper speaks against removal of library books
Georgetown High School Librarian Susan Cooper sits with books ordered to be removed from the shelves of her library ahead of a school board meeting at the Hammerlun Center for Leadership and Learning, March 25, 2025. Cooper spoke during the public comment period of the school board meeting about the planned review and removal of the books and her concerns about the implications for learning and freedom of expression.
KentuckyDaviess County Public Library (KY) removed The Girl Guide by Marawa Ibrahim from library shelves after a complaint. There is apparently a bar code in the middle of the book that goes to some random, unconnected website?
https://www.messenger-inquirer.com/ne...
In response to a request for reconsideration filed by a local parent, the Daviess County Public Library has removed “The Girl Guide” by Marawa Ibrahim from its shelves pending it receiving further information from the publisher.
Abigail Matthews filed the request after reviewing the book, citing her belief that the book was not age appropriate — the book is intended for children ages 8-12, as printed on the back cover — and for a seemingly random barcode that is a link to information about the book “Unforgettable” by Willow Aster, which is a romance novel about a one-night stand that’s recommended for adult readers.
QNPoohBear wrote: "A controversial former city council member will be the newly appointed member of Garfield County Libraries in Colorado. https://www.aspenpublicradio.org/soci...-..."
Follow-up
With multiple new members, can the Garfield County library board turn the page on debate surrounding some materials?
https://www.postindependent.com/news/...
Newly appointed Glenwood Springs representative for the Garfield County Libraries Board of Trustees Tony Hershey said he is excited to roll up his sleeves and find the underlying basis of the discord. From his point of view, there are reliable foundations for both arguments.
“I think adult books should be with adults,” he said. “I just think there’s this whole mass of people that sit in the middle ground. They want a good library but don’t want children to have access to inappropriate content.”
Hershey is the most recent appointment, but is not alone. Garfield County commissioners appointed new trustees late last year for New Castle and Carbondale. Former chief of Burning Mountains Fire Protection District Brit McLin will serve as the New Castle representative until Dec. 31, 2025. Pierucci Publishing founder Stephanie Pierucci Hirsch was appointed by the county commissioners to a full five-year term to represent Carbondale.
They’ll be the newest members faced with a yearslong debate surrounding some of the materials available for rent at Garfield County libraries. Since 2022, Garfield County residents Trish O’Grady and John Lepkowski, have advocated restricting content within the libraries that they alleged to be unfit for children.
The discussions center around manga, a Japanese animation style that has roots dating back to the12th century. Since September 2023, members of the community have brought concerns forward to the district library board regarding the books being unsafe for children.
The Japanese comic books have long been a part of Japanese culture, and sometimes portray dark or s--ual scenes. The contention has expanded to other graphic novels that are offered within the public library system, although none which are currently kept in the children’s books section of the libraries.
Their argument lies on the fact that the books are available and advertised to children. They advised the board to move the books to higher shelves, put them behind protective glass, or even burn them all together.
“We shouldn’t have said that,” Lepkowski said. “We don’t want to ban any books, we just want them protected so children can’t access inappropriate content.”
Hershey hopes his appointment can bring fresh air into the conversation.
“Nobody gets exactly what they want in politics,” he said. “We aren’t going to burn down the libraries, and we aren’t going to install triple X sections. There has to be a middle ground for both parties. I’m excited to get into the weeds and work with the rest of the board to find a solution. My first meeting is April 3 and I’m going to keep my mouth shut and learn about the issues.”
Lepkowski, a Silt resident, first saw the books at the Parachute Library almost three years ago. He said the books were located on lower shelves, and equated the books to poison or a loaded handgun.
“If you had small children, you wouldn’t leave poison or a loaded handgun out where they could access them,” he said. ” (My pastor) said these books are grooming little children, and this sort of content can be as addictive as drugs. We are grooming little children with homos-ual and p---graphic material.”
Executive Director of Garfield County Library’s and 1998 librarian of the year Jamie LaRue said the specific books are neither accessible nor advertised to children, and in some cases, the books even have a 18+ sticker on them.
“They have always been segregated and as far away from the children’s area as it is possible within that space,” LaRue said.
He continued to say the discussions aren’t sprouting from an understanding of the content or even a mass community effort.
“The part that I have found frustrating about John’s attacks is that he doesn’t read these books,” he said. “He just flips to them to find an image that he feels is too s--ual in content for a child, but there’s no evidence that a child is using them. This is a group of about five people and it’s nothing like a groundswell of community support.”
According to Lepkowski, there is a lot more community interest than LaRue is letting on.
“All the credit has to go to Trish O’Grady,” Lepkowski said. “I kicked a small snowball down the hill and she turned it into an avalanche. She got over 1,200 signatures on our petition. The next library board meeting is going to be packed, you better get there early if you want to sit down.”
After O’Grady and Lepkowski brought their concerns to the library board, each representative from the six branches in the Garfield County Library Board of Trustees read the concerned books and decided they fit their standards.
Hershey said he and LaRue may disagree on foundational library values.
“I think Jamie and I may disagree with each other on this subject, but just because someone wants a book doesn’t mean the city has to buy that book for them,” he said.
LaRue has a broader view of the issues.
“This is not about books in the library. This is about an attempt to politicize a public institution that’s supposed to serve everybody and make it serve just one part of the community,” he said.
Those advocating for restricting access to library materials so far have failed to answer what LaRue sees as a much bigger question: What do you do about explicit content and bad actors looking to target children via the internet?
“Nowadays, we have the internet,” he said. “Far more explicit content is more readily available today, that is just a fact, that is reasonable. What isn’t reasonable is trying to hold the libraries accountable for the way society has changed.”
Hershey agreed with LaRue’s sentiment, almost reiterating his words verbatim, but can understand where Lepkowski is coming from.
“People have a lot easier access to the same materials on the internet or their cell phones than they might at the libraries,” he said. “If you’re an adult and really need to find something that the library doesn’t provide, I don’t think it’s incumbent for the library to provide such materials because we have limited resources.”
The next library board meeting is slated for 2 p.m. April 3 at the Glenwood Springs Library Branch.
*sigh* Are there any books left in this school district?Texas
Katy Independent School District banned four more books, including three comics and a children’s book about racism.
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-te...
NASA Wipes Graphic Novels About Women Astronauts From Its Websiteshttps://gizmodo.com/nasa-wipes-graphi...
As reported by Keith Cowing of NASA Watch, the graphic novels had been online for years. (“Apparently NASA DEI Sanitation Squad is using my postings to help them delete things,” Cowing wrote.) The series titles were “First Woman: NASA’s Promise for Humanity” and “First Woman: Expanding Our Universe.”
The space agency left up releases announcing editions of the graphic novels and updates to the series, but the main landing page—dedicated to Rodriguez’s story as the (fictional) first woman to walk on the Moon—now yields a 404 error. NASA’s Press Secretary Bethany Stevens did not respond to a request for comment.
Mod
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-wipes-graphi...
As reported by Keith Cowing of..."
Sounds like NAZI GERMANY, where after Adolf (or in the USA Donald) took over, women were fired from their university positions etc. and told to focus on their children, their husbands and the church (and of course glorifying their supreme leader, sigh).
Kinder, Kirche, Küche (children, church, kitchen)
Manybooks wrote: "Sounds like NAZI GERMANY, where after Adolf (or in the USA Donald) took over, women were fired from their university positions etc. and told to focus on their children, their husbands and the church (and of course glorifying their supreme leader, sigh).."Women just fought back AND worked across the aisle to do it. Working moms 1, House Speaker : 0
Democrat and Republican women were successful in getting a vote on legislation that would allow new parents to vote by proxy for 12 weeks around the birth of a new child. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., originally refused to put the bill on the floor. When it became clear they had the 218 votes needed to do that, Johnson still tried to stop them. He took the unusual step of designing a special rule to prevent a vote, but nine Republicans voted alongside Democrats to block it.
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/01/nx-s1-...
That's the good news today, also Wisconsin voters didn't allow Elon Musk to buy their votes and AP announces : "Democratic-backed Susan Crawford wins Wisconsin Supreme Court seat, cementing liberal majority."
https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-...
So Yay women but more bad news to follow.
If they REALLY cared about protecting children and REALLY thought all lives mattered, they wouldn't pass disgusting laws like this. Also have these people never heard of extra chromosomes, missing chromosomes and intersex people? They certainly don't know the difference between gender and sex. Ohio’s Republican Budget Proposal Destroys Library Funding, Restricts LGBTQ+ Books, Targets Library Trustee Terms
https://bookriot.com/ohios-republican...
Kelly Jensen of BookRiot reports:
"The Ohio House’s substitute budget bill introduced in the House Finance Committee would fundamentally change how libraries are funded, slash over $100 million dollars from their budgets, require public libraries restrict access to LGBTQ+ books in order to receive their new meagre budgets, and change the term limits of library trustees.
Each of these budget provisions is intentionally designed to shuttle power of local libraries away from their communities and into the hands of state-level elected officials.
Ohio funds its libraries through a percentage of the state general revenue fund (GRF), designated as the Public Library Fund (PLF). This ensures that in a predominantly rural state like Ohio, small towns that may not have as large a tax base as suburban and urban areas still have a strong library. In some communities, the PLF comprises the entire budget, while in others, some of the budget is supplemented locally.
House lawmakers are now proposing that public libraries be funded through a budget line item, and that those funds would be distributed to counties through a per capita formula. This would crush library services in rural areas.
As written, the House budget proposal would cut $46.7 million dollars to libraries in 2026 and $54.1 million in 2027. Where the original budget showed an increase in funds available to libraries, the House proposal would leave over $100 million in cuts.
By changing how libraries are funded in the state, shuffling it from a portion of general revenue to a line item in the budget, power now lies in the hands of the next Ohio governor to determine whether or not to fund public libraries at all.
Another provision added to the state budget bill requires that libraries abide by new requirements related to LGBTQ+ materials.
All public libraries in Ohio would be required to relocate and remove any and all materials “related to sexual orientation or gender identity or expression” into a place in the library that would not be in view of those under the age of 18.
The vague language is intentional. The goal is, of course, to eradicate any and all LGBTQ+ themed or LGBTQ+ adjacent titles from anyone under the age of 18 throughout the state. It ties directly into other additions in the House substitute budget, which would codify that the state only identifies two sexes, “male and female, which are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”
Much like in other states where similar bills targeting LGBTQ+ materials in libraries, this would impact small and rural libraries the most. Without space to relocate materials, some may face the reality of needing to go adult-only, as we have seen in Idaho.
The term length of Ohio public library boards would be changed under this budget bill as well. No longer would trustees serve for seven years. The length would be four years, and for newly-created county library districts, those terms of service would be even shorter.
By changing the lengths of service trustees can have, republicans are creating the playbook for where and how to take over boards and where and how those trustees who serve the good of their community–by supporting the intellectual, educational, and entertainment needs of the whole community, rather than its whitest and wealthiest members–can more easily be removed.
The Republican-penned bill also strikes a blow to public education throughout the state and paves the wave for the state to pass a voucher scheme program, which would funnel taxpayer money into private schools. Lower and middle class families are poised to be hurt the most as their libraries lose money, the materials available in those public libraries is sequestered and restricted, and public school budgets are wiped away so families who can already afford private education are able to cash in with vouchers.
The cruelty of this bill is the point, and it is not only a punch in the throat of libraries. It’s a budget bill that oversteps its role in funding state services and institutions by leaning into right-wing, unscientific rhetoric about gender. Ohio republicans behind this bill are not thinking about what will happen in the next year or two. They’re creating the mechanisms to fundamentally destroy public institutions of democracy for generations to come."
I do not understand Florida at all. There's almost never good news coming from that state.House committee advances bill to crack down on explicit book ‘loophole’ in schools
https://flvoicenews.com/house-committ...
The bill strengthens regulations on explicit materials in schools by prohibiting the use of “literary, artistic, political, or scientific value” as a defense for keeping materials deemed “harmful to minors” in educational settings.
The bill states materials containing s--ual conduct – unless explicitly authorized for health education or approved by the State Board of Education – must be removed within five school days after a parental or resident objection. These materials must remain unavailable during the review process.
The bill requires the State Board of Education to monitor district compliance with the material challenge and review requirements and notify a district of any noncompliance and the board may withhold funds until the school district complies.
Bill sponsors: Rep. Doug Bankson is carrying HB 1539. Sen. Stan McClain is carrying SB 1692 in the Senate.
The House bill passed 13-4 and has two more committee stops. Democratic Reps. Jose Alvarez, LaVon Gracie Davis, Angie Nixon, and Marie Woodson voted against the bill. The Senate bill has to pass through two more committee stops.
What the Florida bill will ACTUALLY do from the Florida Freedom to Read Projecthttps://bsky.app/profile/flfreedomrea...
https://bsky.app/profile/flfreedomrea...
The bill would allow classics by White authors such as To Kill a Mockingbird but ban classics by Black authors like Toni Morrison.
Data points to special interest groups NOT parents pushing the bill
More on Florida's new "don't say Gulf of Mexico" billAccording to the Florida Freedom to Read Project, under this language, a Social Studies textbook could not explain how the Gulf of Mexico was renamed the Gulf of America, and why the rest of the world still calls it the Gulf of Mexico.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/...
The Florida Freedom to Read Project also reportsAll but one Duval board member voted to remove Identical by Ellen Hopkins (against the original committee decision).
Member Pearson did try to amend the motion to require parent permission, but ended up voting against her own amendment after it was clear she couldn’t get the votes.
https://bsky.app/profile/flfreedomrea...
Florida Freedom to Read Project @flfreedomread.bsky.socialNews from Tallahassee:
SB 1692 died in committee today.
HB 1539 (the version that still impacts booksellers and public libraries) is on Wednesday’s agenda in the House Education Administration Committee.
https://www.flhouse.gov/Sections/Comm...
Accountabaloney@flbaloney.bsky.social
#SB1692's Sen McClain thinks books with nudity are harmful to minors, particularly in elementary schools and doesn't care if books like "No, David!" are permantly removed from school libraries. Read @jeffsolochek.bsky.social history lesson on how #Florida's got here.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/educati...
Children's Books
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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Texas Senate passes bill to control which books are allowed in school libraries
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/sout...
The Texas Senate passed a bill this week that would leave decisions on a school library’s catalog mainly up to parents and board members instead of librarians.
Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 13, which would let parents and board members decide school library content
The bill is part of a wider trend that is looking to give parents control over educational materials
Texas ranks third nationally for the most book bans with 538 banned books last school year
Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, authored Senate Bill 13, which would create school advisory boards made up of parents that are appointed by school board members.
SB 13 would allow school boards to determine the types of books that make it into school libraries. It’s part of a growing movement among Republican politicians to pass control of what is taught in schools to parents.
The bill heads to the Texas House next.
...
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a statement following the vote: “Texas parents expect their child’s school library to have educational content, not s---al content or woke ideologies meant to indoctrinate our students. These types of books have no place in our schools and must not be tolerated. Students need access to books that are grade, age, and developmentally appropriate. I thank Sen. Paxton for her continued leadership on this crucial issue.”