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…
Tag: united states
Google Play Applies Double Standard to Erotica in Comics
It shouldn’t be news to anyone that self-published erotica is big business. One need only look to the Fifty Shades trilogy, which began as self-published Twilight fan fiction but was later snapped up by Vintage Books and spawned a feature…
UNC Freshman Alleges ‘Literature of 9/11’ Course Sympathizes With Terrorists
Shortly after some Duke University freshmen made news by publicly opting out of reading Fun Home for an all-class summer reading program, another new student at the public university just down the road is also offering his thoughts on books…
Illinois Officials Burned by 1950s Library Purge
In the modern popular imagination, the 1950s represent the height of repression, conformity, paranoia, and of course censorship. To be sure, the era did see the brief rise of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the continued effects of the Hollywood blacklist (instituted…
Experts Pick Apart APA Report on Video Game Violence
A task force appointed by the American Psychological Association made a big splash last week with a report that claimed to identify a link between “violent video game use and increases in aggressive behavior, aggressive cognitions and aggressive affect,” but…
Duke Students Debate Fun Home Summer Reading Selection
As incoming freshmen at Duke University wrapped up orientation week on Friday, campus newspaper The Chronicle checked up on the reaction to the choice of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home as an all-class summer reading book. Although some freshman have opted…
IRONY ALERT: Downers Grove Council Approves Would-be Censor for Library Board
The village council of Downers Grove, Illinois, an affluent suburb of Chicago, on Tuesday approved the appointment of a would-be book banner to the town library’s board of trustees. Local attorney Arthur Jaros Jr. led a failed 1999 attempt to…
Harvard Library Building Archival Collection on Charlie Hebdo Attacks
The Harvard Library is inviting submissions to a new physical and digital archival collection of materials related to the January attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris and the ensuing worldwide debate on freedom of expression and religion. The curators of…
Charleston Principal Removes Some Girls Are from Summer Reading List
Based on a complaint from one parent, the principal of West Ashley High School in Charleston, South Carolina has removed Courtney Summers’ novel Some Girls Are as an option on a summer reading list for freshman Honors English. Although Charleston…
Emails Show Confused Response to Palomar Challenge in Rio Rancho
Although we got word last week that Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez would be returning to high school library shelves in Rio Rancho, New Mexico after a parent’s challenge was resolved, a new report from Albuquerque radio station KUNM indicates that…