More than twenty years ago, Laurie Halse Anderson exploded on to the literary scene with her YA book Speak, an award-winning tale the New York Times said, “opened the door for more novels exploring the deeply felt and deeply personal…
By Nora Flanagan Welcome to Using Graphic Novels in Education, an ongoing feature from CBLDF that is designed to allay confusion around the content of graphic novels and to help parents and teachers raise readers. In this column, we examine graphic…
Linden Board of Education has developed policy changes to address parents’ concerns that the teaching materials being used were inappropriate. Six months ago, parents complained because they were unaware that R-rated movies were shown in classrooms and reading assignments contained…
Since most of the challenges and bans that we cover happen in schools, the summers have typically been slow news months for us in past years. So, naturally this year we took notice when challenge after challenge to books that…
A challenge to Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak at a high school in Albertville, Alabama was quickly resolved earlier this month when the principal responded that it was one of many books on a reading list, and individual students or their…
Here’s some good news to start the week: The school board in Grants Pass, Oregon has approved Sherman Alexie’s Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian for use in 10th-grade English classes after it was initially rejected by the district’s…
With Laurie Halse Anderson’s frequently-challenged YA novel Speak reaching its 15th anniversary this year, the author is marking the occasion with a campaign called #Speak4RAINN15 which aims to raise $30,000 for the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. Recently she…
This week, CBLDF-sponsored Kids’ Right to Read Project sent two letters on behalf of challenged books: One defends the use of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye in schools in Colorado, and the second defends Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, which is…
In June, Laurel Nokomis School in Sarasota County, Florida, convened a committee of teachers, education professionals, and more to determine the fate of an award-winning novel that was being used in an 8th grade gifted language arts classroom. The board…