The Baltimore Comic makes its annual appearance at the Baltimore Convention Center this weekend, and CBLDF will be there at booth #1601 with a slew of signed premiums! CBLDF is also proud to present Brian Wood, who will be signing…
Category: Education
Back to School with Comics: Using Graphic Novels in Education
School season has begun again! As kids return to classrooms, it’s a great time to encourage literacy by using graphic novels. Using Graphic Novels in Education is an ongoing feature from CBLDF that is designed to allay confusion around the…
Using Graphic Novels in Education: The Silence of Our Friends
Welcome to Using Graphic Novels in Education, an ongoing feature from CBLDF that is designed to allay confusion around the content of banned books and to help parents and teachers raise readers. In this column, we examine books that have…
Libraries Remind Parents of Responsibilities
Frequently, when a book or other material is targeted for removal from a public library, it’s because a minor managed to access something that does not meet the approval of his or her parents or guardians. Although most libraries do…
Barefoot Gen Ban Lifted
In a victory for free speech, the Matsue City school board overturned an order that banned renown anti-war manga Barefoot Gen from school libraries. Keiji Nakazawa’s celebrated series was removed from shelves after a complainant — one who does not…
The Inconvenience of Barefoot Gen
Translator and manga industry expert Dan Kanemitsu submitted the following opinion piece on the recent ban of Barefoot Gen from the perspective of being close to the ground in recent battles involving manga regulation in Japan. In December of 2010,…
Obscenity Case Files: Smith v. California
It was established in Roth v. United States that the freedom of speech would not extend to materials that were considered obscene. But what happens to a book store that unknowingly carries books that contain obscene material? Is a book…
Barefoot Gen Pulled from Matsue School Libraries
Keiji Nakazawa’s internationally renowned manga Barefoot Gen, which depicts wartime atrocities from the perspective of the seven-year-old protagonist, has been pulled from primary and middle school libraries in the Japanese city of Matsue. Citing “portions that warrant consideration as appropriate…
Youth Voices Important in Fight for Free Speech
Recent attempts to ban Marjane Satrapi’s Perseoplis and Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower have been met with vocal opposition. Central to these protests are students themselves, and their vociferous protests and savvy with social media helped prevent…
CBLDF’s Comic Market Speech On Manga Freedom
Last weekend, CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein traveled to Tokyo for the Manga Freedom Speaking Tour, a series of presentations and meetings about free expression issues facing manga and how fans in the United States and Japan can band together…