Archive for the 'banned' Category
Students should be able to enjoy wide range of books, not censorship
March 9th, 2010Daily Illini – “In late January, a small Virginia town’s headlines exclaimed its public school system was pulling an “explicit text” from the curriculum of its schools. The book was criticized for its “sexually suggestive references” and comments of a “homosexual nature.” Countless other schools nationwide have pulled the same book off school and public [...]
Idea of Banning Books Hangs Over Campaign Finance Debate
February 4th, 2010Legal Times – “In September, when the U.S. Supreme Court held its second round of oral argument in Citizens United v. FEC, Solicitor General Elena Kagan took the unusual step of backing away from a point made months earlier by a deputy. “The government’s answer has changed,” she said, and it no longer believes that [...]
Banned in Texas prisons: books and magazines that many would consider classics
February 2nd, 2010American Statesman – “Ask the Texas Department of Criminal Justice how many book and magazine titles it has reviewed over the years to determine if the reading material is suitable for its inmates, and officials will give you a precise number: 89,795. Ask how many authors are represented on the list, and they can [...]
Sexual content in Anne Frank
January 31st, 2010Examiner – “The Diary of a Young Girl’ survives book-banning flap in Culpepper VA”
School system in Va. won’t teach version of Anne Frank book
January 30th, 2010Washington Post – “Culpeper County public school officials have decided to stop assigning a version of Anne Frank’s diary, one of the most enduring symbols of the atrocities of the Nazi regime, after a parent complained that the book includes sexually explicit material and homosexual themes.”
‘Sexual content’ leads one Fond du Lac parent to ask for book to be taken off middle school library shelf
January 30th, 2010The Northwestern – “A popular, young adult book in the Theisen Middle School Library is being challenged as inappropriate. Parent Ann Wentworth of Fond du Lac has issued a formal complaint with the school district, objecting to “sexual content too mature for 11- to 14-years-olds” in the book “One of Those Hideous Books Where the [...]
Ban on Dictionary with Oral Sex Lifted
January 27th, 2010AP – “Southern California District had Prohibited Merriam-Webster Edition Defining Sex Act”
Library ban for ‘pungent body odour’ man
December 4th, 2009BBC – “Library officials in Leicestershire have banned a regular reader from their building following complaints about his “pungent” body odour. The council said they were forced to act as visitors left Wigston Library when 27-year-old Stuart Penman arrived.”
Ames Library to keep teen sex magazine on shelves
November 22nd, 2009Quad City Times – “A teen sex magazine will stay at on the shelves at the Ames Public Library despite a petition signed by more than 100 parents objecting to the publication. The Ames Library Board voted 6-1 to support library Director Art Weeks’ recommendation to keep the magazine Sex, Ect., in the teen section. [...]
Former librarian banned from work in Vt. schools
November 20th, 2009Times Argus – ” A librarian from Mount Anthony Middle School was recently banned from working in all Vermont schools for inappropriately using the Internet. David Wohlsen, a prekindergarten through Grade 12 library media specialist, surrendered his teaching license to the state Department of Education earlier this month on the grounds that he “violated school [...]
Trustees to decide fate of Sex, Etc.
November 18th, 2009Ames Tribune – “More than 100 parents have concerns over what teens could be reading about sex from a magazine at Ames Public Library. Joyce Bannantine presented a petition with 118 signatures to the Library Board of Trustees last month objecting to the open display in the teen area and offering free copies of [...]
Gay Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!
November 9th, 2009BeyondChron – “Parents do the dumbest things. Consider the mother in Piasa, Illinois who freaked out after she saw the website of her child’s optional reading assignment and bitched about it to the local school board. Her complaint led to the suspension of Dan Delong, the high school teacher who gave the homework.”
A superintendent in H.B. to decide on book banning
October 31st, 2009OC Register – “The superintendent of a Huntington Beach elementary school district said he will decide Tuesday whether to ban an autobiography by Maya Angelou from middle school libraries – a book opponents say has inappropriate material for children.”
Euthanasia activist banned from hosting right-to-die workshop at Vancouver library
October 23rd, 2009The Province – “Dr. Philip Nitschke, the director of Exit International, has instead decided to go ahead with the event at a local church, after the library refused his booking for a second time citing legal concerns.”
Mom says book ‘too offensive for library shelves’
October 23rd, 2009Cheshire Librarian Knows This Is Not The Time To Be Silent
October 23rd, 2009
Idaho mom protests ‘How to Get Suspended and Influence People’ library book for teens
October 22nd, 2009AP – “Shelly Gering says her 4-year-old picked out the book, “How to Get Suspended and Influence People,” by Adam Selzer and she was appalled that the cover included an abstract drawing of a nude woman and the back cover contains some profanity. The book explores the theme of censorship through the eyes of [...]
Gay Reversal Advocates Say School Libraries Banning Their ‘Ex-Gay’ Books
October 22nd, 2009Fox News – “Visit most public school libraries and you’ll find an array of books that address the subject of homosexuality. Many include sexually explicit content, and some even include graphic images. But if you’re looking for a book that refers to the possibility that homosexuality can be “reversed,” a Chicago-based group says your best [...]
Cheshire librarian to defend refusal to ban book on Petit slayings
October 22nd, 2009Republican American – “Ramona Harten plans never to read a new book about the killing of three members of the Petit family. Harten has never been a fan of the true crime genre of books — ones that detail actual crimes. And “In the Middle of the Night: The Shocking Story of a Family Killed [...]
Teachers tense after book complaint
October 15th, 2009Roanoke Times – “Formal requests to remove material, known as challenges, “create a great deal of stress,” said Angela Maycock of the library association’s office for intellectual freedom. “Teachers and librarians may be targeted personally for the professional decisions and professional judgments they make.”
Of course, they are just trying to protect the kids, right? [...]
A Baby for the Gay Authors Behind the Daddy Penguins
October 2nd, 2009NYT – “Now the authors of the book, Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, have their own baby Tango. In February, the gay couple, who live in the West Village, had their first child. The baby, Gemma Parnell-Richardson, was born to a surrogate mother, the egg fertilized by sperm from one of the men. (Which one [...]
Don’t read that! The secret lives of book banners
September 30th, 2009PopMatters – “[i]t’s not really about the books. Maybe it’s just about bullying, about telling other people what to do. Deep down, I imagine, book banners don’t really want to ban any books; they want the world to acknowledge their beliefs and convictions. The books to which they object just happen to constitute a handy [...]
Leesburg parents, church leaders: move racy books at Leesburg library
September 29th, 2009Orlando Sentinel – “Parents, chuch and community leaders will ask city commissioners today to move provacative books available to teens into a separate area at Leesburg Public Library. Commissioners will consider whether to review more than 4,000 books in the young adult section of the library for its content and move the more racy content [...]
WI’s West Bend Library Board Says ‘No’ to Relocating YA Books
June 14th, 2009School Library Journal – “A list of sexually explicit and gay-themed titles will remain on the YA shelves of Wisconsin’s West Bend Community Library following the board’s unanimous vote to reject efforts by local parents to restrict access to those books.”
RHS may pull ‘Vibe’
June 4th, 2009Beaver Dam Daily Citizen Online – “A magazine may be pulled from the Randolph High School library for its “sexual content, explicit language and gang symbols.” Principal Tom Erdmann brought a complaint against “Vibe” magazine after a school board member raised concerns.”
Kid keeping a lending library of banned books in his her locker
May 25th, 2009Boing Boing – “A teenager asks Yahoo! Questions whether maintaining a lending library in his school locker is illegal (as opposed of merely in contravention of school regulations). A school friend asked to borrow off him The Catcher in the Rye, one of the books in the banned list, and one thing led to another…”
Thanks [...]
Parents Groups Upset at “How To Get Laid” Book in School Libraries
May 2nd, 2009The Spoof – “Parents groups in the California are upset about a new book that has just appeared in Public School libraries across the state. “How to Get Laid,” a book by Rod Ironman, has members of the P.T.A., the Gay P.T.A., and the BiSexual P.T.A. calling for a traditional Southern Baptist/Nazi style Book Burning.”
Free Speech Groups Criticize Dismissal of WI Library Board Members
April 29th, 2009LISNews – Four members of a library board in West Bend, WI were dismissed last week for refusing to remove controversial books from the library’s young adult section—and yesterday, the ABFFE, the National Coalition Against Censorship, the Association of American Publishers and PEN American Center criticized the firings.”
Poland ‘to ban’ Che Guevara image
April 24th, 2009\elegraph – “The iconic image of Che Guevara found adorning students' walls and t-shirts across the world could be banned in Poland under a government proposal to outlaw materials that incite “fascism and totalitarian systems”.”
It takes two to vilify ‘Tango’ — book ban brohahas picking up speed
November 23rd, 2008Children’s Book Examiner – “Across half a continent, another dust-up is proceeding over the book, And Tango Makes Three.”
