Last week, CBLDF led the charge to keep the graphic novel SideScrollers on a school reading list. CBLDF also lent its support to two novels being challenged as “pornographic” by individuals in the East Penn School District in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. The letter, written by the Kids’ Right to Read Project (a joint effort of the National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression), defends Tom Wolfe’s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and Curtiss Sittenfeld’s Prep, both of which appear on the school’s summer reading list.
Both books have been challenged in the school district before, and they have successfully stood up to those challenges. CBLDF lent its support because the removal of any book from reading lists or school libraries opens the door to further censorship. Given their visual nature, graphic novels are especially vulnerable to school challenges.
You can read the entirety of the letter below or by visiting the NCAC website here.
CBLDF is an official sponsor of Banned Books Week, which takes place September 30 – October 6, 2012. Please help support CBLDF’s defense of your right to read by making a donation or becoming a member of the CBLDF!
Betsy Gomez is the Web Editor for CBLDF.