Tag: north america

Book Challenge Debates Often Fuelled by Willful Ignorance

Last year, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David K. Shipler’s book The Working Poor: Invisible in America was one of seven that were briefly suspended en masse from the school district curriculum in the affluent Dallas enclave of Highland Park. Although the…

UPDATED: Michigan Superintendent Notifies Parents of Gay Character in Captain Underpants Book

A few weeks after the Parent-Teacher Organization at an elementary school in Monroe, Michigan banned the latest Captain Underpants book from a school book fair because it reveals that one of the main characters is gay, a school district on…

Middle School Censorship Plan Leaves New Jersey Community Torn

Looking for Alaska

As a result of controversy surrounding Superintendent Joe Langowski’s knee-jerk decision to temporarily pull John Green’s Looking for Alaska from Lumberton Township, New Jersey, classrooms, the school board met to discuss the institution of some kind of rating system that…

High School Reading Assignments Challenged in Illinois, New Jersey

Banned Books Week is barely over, but book challenges continue around the country! Today we got word that Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was pulled from a high school English class in Mattoon, Illinois before students could…

13 Free Speech Victories for Banned Books Week 2015!

This year, CBLDF and its partners in anti-censorship advocacy have seen a dramatic increase in book challenges compared to last year. Fortunately, in most of those cases we and local free speech fighters have prevailed! Here are some free speech…

YA Author Urges Parents to Develop Understanding of Manga

In anticipation of the young-adult-themed Banned Books Week starting this Sunday, YA author Amy McNulty recently shone the spotlight on some of her favorite manga series for teens that have faced challenges in the United States. In a guest post…