15 Books CBLDF Defended in 2017 – Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

In 2017, CBLDF was busy battling book challenges, unconstitutional legislation, and more in defense of the freedom to read. As we wrap up a busy year defending the right to read, here’s a rundown of some of the books we’ve helped defend.

Bone by Jeff Smith

Location of challenge: Undisclosed

Jeff Smith’s Bone was challenged at an undisclosed elementary school library for being unsuited to the age group. CBLDF provided library staff with materials to support the defense of the book, which was ultimately retained.

Stuck in the Middle, edited by Ariel Schrag

Location of challenge: Del Crest Middle School, Oklahoma

An Oklahoma middle school pulled the comic anthology Stuck in the Middle: Seventeen Comics from an Unpleasant Age off of shelves after one parent called it “trash” and complained of vulgarities, sexual references, and drug use in some of the stories. The school claimed that a review committee was formed, but board meetings reveal no further discussion of the book. A search of the district’s library catalog shows that the book is no longer part of the collection.

Sword Art Online: Aincrad by Reki Kawahara and abec

Location of challenge: Jerome, Idaho

CBLDF took the lead in defending the manga volume Sword Art Online 1: Aincrad after it was challenged at a middle school in Jerome, Idaho. A review committee unanimously voted to recommend that the book remain in the Jerome Middle School library.

CBLDF Leads Defense of Manga in Idaho Middle School

Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Locations of challenges:

Alton, Illinois
Thousand Oaks, California
Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin
New London-Spicer Schools, Minnesota

The use of Part-Time Indian at Sauk Prairie High School in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, was questioned during a school board meeting for what one parent called “shocking words of profanity, sexual innuendo and violence.” Another parent quoted out-of-context passages as evidence of the novels unsuitability for classrooms. Another parent argued that she’s not an advocate of banning books, “but I cannot believe in the history of the written word that there is not a more appropriate, more suitable, more acceptable book than this one.” The complaint triggered a contentious review of the novel.

A pair of parents of New London-Spicer Schools 8th graders challenged the acclaimed novel, citing “gratuitous and unnecessary” profanity and reference to sexual acts as reasons for offense. Despite being offered an alternate assignment for their children per school policy, the complainants argue that their children are being punished and that the book should instead be removed from the curriculum.

CBLDF signed on to a letter from NCAC’s Kids’ Right to Read Project, urging the Conejo Valley Unified School District in Thousand Oaks, California, to expedite the approval process for Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian to be used in the 9th grade curriculum. The process has stalled after one school board member objected to language and sexual references used in the book.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was restored to the 10th grade curriculum at Alton High School in Alton, Illinois. The book was temporarily suspended pending a review committee decision, after one parent simply requested an alternate assignment for their own child.

A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl by Tanya Stone

Location of challenge: Cody, Wyoming

In early November, a parent complained about sexual content in Tanya Stone’s A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl, demanding its removal from the school library in Cody High School.

CBLDF Defends A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl in Wyoming

BUCK: A Memoir by MK Asante

Location of challenge: Baltimore, Maryland

Baltimore County School District has caved to pressure from parents and removed MK Asante’s award winning memoir Buck from the curriculum at Digital Harbor High School. Parents claimed profanity, as well as graphically described sexual acts, were the reasons Buck was inappropriate for 9th graders. Out of a 272-page book, parents complaints mostly centered around one out-of-context chapter that was set in a strip club.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Locations of challenges:

Yamhill-Carlton School District, Oregon
Vinton County High School, Ohio

CBLDF joined the Kids’ Right to Read Project to send a letter protesting the removal of Rainbow Rowell’s novel Eleanor & Park from the eighth grade curriculum in the Yamhill-Carlton School District in Oregon. The school board ignored its challenge policy when it voted to ban the book in January, but later backtracked and agreed to form a review committee as the policy requires.

CBLDF also joined the Kids’ Right to Read Project in defending Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park, which has been removed from classrooms in Vinton County High School in Ohio.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Location of challenge: Marshfield, Wisconsin

A parent in Marshfield, Wisconsin filed a challenge to Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle, saying that high school students “deserve better” than a book he describes as “full of foul language, and explicit and disturbing materials.”

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Location of challenge: Katy, Texas

School officials in Katy, Texas, banned the critically acclaimed YA novel The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas without following district challenge policy, according to a student who posted about the incident on Twitter. Katy Independent School District Superintendent Lance Hindt reportedly ordered the book pulled from shelves in mid-November after some parents complained about “inappropriate language.”

I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings

Location of challenge: Rocklin, California

A public charter school in Rocklin, California is defending a kindergarten teacher’s choice to read the picture books I Am Jazz and Red: A Crayon’s Story out loud to her students in order to help them understand a classmate’s gender transition.

Jacob’s New Dress by Sarah and Ian Hoffman

Location of challenge: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, North Carolina

CBLDF joined a Kids’ Right to Read Project-led coalition to protest the removal of Sarah and Ian Hoffman’s Jacob’s New Dress from a first grade anti-bullying program in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, North Carolina.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Location of challenge: Gilbert, Arizona

CBLDF this week joined a coalition of free-speech organizations objecting to the abrupt removal of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner from the curriculum of Higley Unified School District in Gilbert, Arizona. Although students in Honors English 10 have read the book for several years, administrators allege that it was never officially approved for use.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Location of challenge: Stone Lakes Elementary, Florida

After a Florida elementary school pre-emptively banned students from bringing personal copies of Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why onto campus, CBLDF yesterday joined with other members of NCAC’s Kids’ Right to Read Project in urging principal Bryan Dolfi to reconsider.

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This Day in June by Gayle Pitman

Location of challenge: West Chicago, Illinois

The public library board in West Chicago, Illinois voted 6-1 to retain the LGBTQIA-themed children’s picture book This Day in June by Gayle Pitman in the children’s section. A West Chicago couple had challenged the book, implying that it promoted “GLBT and sex bondage” to young readers.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Location of challenge: Biloxi, Mississippi

Harper Lee’s classic To Kill a Mockingbird was removed from the 8th grade curriculum in Biloxi, Mississippi. A Biloxi school board member claimed that it was “an administrative and department decision.” According to an anonymous source, the book was removed mid-lesson, after students had already started the reading. After a national outcry over the removal, the book was returned to classrooms — with caveats. Whereas the reading assignment previously was “opt-out” such that any student or parent could request an alternate book, it has now become “opt-in,” which means only students who return a signed parental permission slip will be allowed to read it for class.

To find out more about what CBLDF did to defend comics and the right to read in 2017, check out our annual report here.

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