For many Americans, the criminal offense of sedition–that is, criticism of the government–probably conjures up the notorious but short-lived Sedition Act of 1798, which played an important role in the election of 1800 but was allowed to expire the following…
Tag: united states
Five Years After Brown v. EMA, Debate on Video Games Still Evolving
Five years ago this month, the Supreme Court decided in Brown v. EMA that a California law banning the sale of violent video games to minors was unconstitutional. Like every relatively new medium before them — comics in the 1950s,…
Round Rock Schools Issue Statement on Author Disinvitation
The school district in Round Rock, Texas has issued an evasive response to author Phil Bildner’s allegation that his disinvitation from eight schools he had been slated to visit there this fall was due to his previous recommendation that students…
Author of Drug Addiction Book Disinvited from Vermont School
Children’s author Kate Messner was disinvited from an unidentified elementary school in South Burlington, Vermont, this week, less than 24 hours before she was scheduled to speak to students about her new book The Seventh Wish. Even though the visit…
LGBT Comics Publisher Protests Apple Censorship
Zan Christensen, the founder of LGBT comics publisher Northwest Press, is no stranger to corporate censorship of the books he submits to digital publishing platforms. But after Apple’s iBookstore rejected all three of Northwest’s most recent offerings due “prohibited explicit…
Texas School District Cancels Author’s Visit After Transgender Book Recommendation
The Round Rock Independent School District in Texas has uninvited author Phil Bildner from all eight schools he was scheduled to visit there this fall, apparently because he recommended a book featuring a transgender protagonist when he visited the district…
Pasco County Schools Will Clarify Review Procedure for Challenged Books
To clear up confusion that came to light during a recent challenge to Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, school district officials in Pasco County, Florida plan to clarify the reach of decisions made by school-level review committees.…
Henning School Board Restores This One Summer to Library, with Restrictions
The school board in Henning, Minnesota voted 4-2 last night to allow Jillian and Mariko Tamaki’s This One Summer back on library shelves at the district’s single K-12 school–with a few conditions. The book must be shelved in a separate…
Perks of Being a Wallflower Returns to High School Classrooms in Pasco County
Pasco County, Florida superintendent of schools Kurt Browning has decided not to ban Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower district-wide, following a review committee’s vote earlier this week to remove it from one middle school. Although the review…
Perks of Being a Wallflower Banned in Florida Middle School
A review committee in Pasco County, Florida voted to ban Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower from a middle school yesterday after two parents complained about the book’s references to sex, drugs, and drinking. Pending further district-wide review,…