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…
Tag: classroom
Parent Challenges Harper Lee Classic in Classroom
To Kill A Mockingbird is under fire again, this time in Wisconsin. Tumjama Kameeta, submitted a request to the Monona Grove School District in Wisconsin, asking administrators to remove To Kill a Mockingbird from the school curriculum, citing, among many…
Utah Teacher Fired After Classical Art Lesson
An elementary school art teacher in Cache County, Utah is fighting to clear his name after he was fired last month for inadvertently sharing two nude paintings by well-known artists with a 6th grade class. Despite a police investigation that…
Florida School District Won’t Ban Fahrenheit 451
The school district in Santa Rosa County, Florida is standing by Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, despite a complaint from an irony-challenged parent who demanded that the cautionary tale about censorship be removed from the 8th grade curriculum. Superintendent Tim Wyrosdick…
Conejo Valley School Board Approves ‘Red-Flagging’ of Books
During a contentious meeting Tuesday night that dragged on for six hours, California’s Conejo Valley school board passed a new ‘red-flagging’ policy that will require high school English teachers to warn parents of any assigned book considered to have “mature…
Utah School Says Students Saw ‘Inappropriate Material’ in Oklahoma!
In response to complaints from one set of parents, a Utah school district has acknowledged that about 100 junior high students may have caught a fleeting glimpse of partial nudity while watching a 1999 version of the musical Oklahoma! in…
Mockingbird Returns to Class in Biloxi–With Strings Attached
After a national outcry over the removal of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird from the 8th grade curriculum in Biloxi, Mississippi, the book will return to classrooms on Monday — with caveats. Whereas the reading assignment previously was “opt-out”…
Victory in IL: Absolutely True Diary Retained in 10th Grade Curriculum
In a victory for the freedom to read, Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian has been restored to the 10th grade curriculum at Alton High School in Alton, Illinois. The book was temporarily suspended pending a…
Florida Community Pushes Back Against Superintendent’s Ban on ‘Inappropriate’ Books
In the wake of a draconian censorship directive from the superintendent of schools in Dixie County, Florida, numerous students, teachers, parents, and community members are speaking up in defense of the freedom to read. The order from Superintendent Mike Thomas…
CBLDF Joins Defense of Absolutely True Diary in Illinois School District
For at least the fifth time this year, Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian has been challenged as part of a public school curriculum. This time it’s at Alton High School in Alton, Illinois, and CBLDF…