Freedom to Read Week Guide

CBC News
Feb 21, 2024
Maintaining a diversity of voices in school libraries is increasingly under threat, even in Canada. Canadian authors say books have been taken off shelves at school libraries for a variety of reasons — including parental concerns over themes such as sexuality.

CBC News
Feb 21, 2024
Most Canadians 'stand with authors ... stand with a child's right to read,' says writer whose book was pulled. Danny Ramadan recalls self-censoring his writing in Syria before his arrival in Canada 10 years ago. Now, as an advocate for LGBTQ+ refugees and an author exploring belonging, displacement and identity, he says navigating book challenges is a somewhat expected part of being published. Still, when an Ontario school board shadow-banned his children's title Salma Writes a Book last fall — the school libraries carried it, but restricted students' access — Ramadan was floored.

CBC News
Feb 15, 2024
The Jewish Public Library of Montreal has returned Élise Gravel's books to its shelves, much to the author's relief. The library was accused of censorship after it moved her children's books to closed shelves earlier this month over social media posts by Gravel criticizing the Israeli government's attacks on Gaza. The library now says it "welcomes all the comments it has recently received" and that it "supports... the universal principles of intellectual freedom."

CBC news
Feb 10, 2024
Ottawa Public Library kept all challenged materials in its collection following complaints. The Ottawa Public Library (OPL) denied all formal requests to remove materials from its collection last year. According to a report to the library's board, there were seven "requests for reconsideration" during 2023. Six sought to pull books or DVDs from library shelves, while one asked to reclassify a graphic novel from the teen to the adult collection. Complaints covered everything from alleged racism or promotion of hatred to reports of inaccurate information or objectionable content.

CBC News
Feb 7, 2024
Quebec writer and illustrator Élise Gravel, one of the province's best-known authors of children's literature, has come under fire for her online posts. Since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict erupted in October, Gravel has voiced her views on social media, accusing the Israeli government of bombing children and oppressing Palestinians — comments that have upset some members of Quebec's Jewish community. In response, Montreal's Jewish Public Library has removed her books from its open shelves. At the same time, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), which represents Jewish federations across the country, has accused her of antisemitism. But the author isn't backing down and rejects the accusations of intolerance.

National Post
Jan 10, 2024
The new policy at the Toronto Catholic School board removes classics by non-Black authors such as Of Mice and Men and Huckleberry Finn. Toronto’s Catholic school board has banned from its classrooms all books by non-Black authors that contain the racist slur known as the N-word. The new protocol also bans the word from being spoken aloud except by Black students in the amicable sense. It came into force this school year after being circulated internally last spring and approved in May. Since September, the policy has forced the removal of familiar literary classics from high school curricula, such as Of Mice and Men. Other books that would be caught in the ban include Lord of the Flies, a common high school classic, and Gone with the Wind, less so.

Vanity Fair
April 18, 2024
Once upon a time, working as a librarian in America was not considered a dangerous vocation. Rewarding, of course. Sweet, sure. Occasionally dull, yes, but a lot of jobs can be boring. Yet, for the most part, most people working as librarians in the US did not wake up, head to work, and wonder, What are the chances I’m going to be charged with a crime for letting someone take out a book today? But thanks to GOP state legislators, that’s now become a legitimate fear.

WBEZ Chicago
April 18, 2024
Librarians want you to know their space, and their books, are there for everyone. Libraries are a haven of free access to books, movies, magazines, and even social supports, like finding low-income housing or a job. But those spaces have faced attacks and an unprecedented number of book bans – 4,349 instances of book bans across 23 states – in the last half of 2023.

ABC News
April 18, 2024
As Florida schools face a growing number of book ban attempts, Gov. Ron DeSantis is scaling back policies that made it easier for people to challenge materials in schools.
In 2022, DeSantis signed HB 1467, which required elementary schools to provide a searchable list of the books accessible to students in libraries or classrooms and allow for public comment on all new materials.
Other recent legislation signed by DeSantis, including the Parental Rights in Education Bill and the Stop WOKE Act, restricts content on race and LGBTQ identities in schools and has further impacted access to classroom materials.

ABC News
April 5, 2024
Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir “Gender Queer” continues its troubled run as the country’s most controversial book, topping the American Library Association’s “challenged books” list for a third straight year.

Publishers Weekly
March 15, 2024
Earlier this month, the Georgia state senate made national headlines by passing SB 390, a bill that seeks to bar the expenditure of state funds on programs or materials involving the American Library Association or its affiliates—which include the Georgia Library Association. Georgia is not alone. In 2024, amid a years-long surge in book bans and threats to the freedom to read, the library community is now facing a pernicious new threat: a wave of proposed legislation, agency rules, and executive orders in a growing number of states that seek to prohibit states and municipalities from engaging financially with library associations.

Gothamist
Mar 11, 2024
Hundreds of new books featuring characters of color and LGBTQ+ themes were found by the trash at a Staten Island elementary school, outraging some parents and sparking an education department investigation. Gothamist obtained photos from a Brooklyn book lover that showed boxes of kids’ books left with the garbage at PS 55, known as the Henry Boehm School. Some had sticky notes on them detailing themes and content in the books, which appeared to be part of a 2019 initiative to diversify school materials. The city education department launched an investigation after Gothamist shared the images.

Publisher's Weekly
Feb 23, 2024
Despite a number of high-profile legal victories for freedom to read advocates in recent months, book bans continue to surge—and this week, a host of anti-censorship and library groups are blasting a move by the board of the Autauga-Prattville Public Library in Alabama to effectively bar the library from purchasing books for minors that contain LGBTQ content.

The Parkersburg News & Sentinel
Feb 17, 2024
The West Virginia House of Delegates debated the merits of removing protections for public librarians and school librarians from criminal prosecution in the off chance a minor encounters books and content some consider to be obscene. The House passed House Bill 4654 – removing bona fide schools, public libraries, and museums from the list of exemptions from criminal liability relating to distribution and display to a minor of obscene matter – in a 85-12 vote Friday, sending the bill to the state Senate. HB 4654 would lift criminal liability exemptions from schools in the presentation of local or state-approved curriculum, and public libraries and museums displaying obscene matter to a minor when the child is not accompanied by a parent/guardian.
State Code defines obscene matter as anything an average person believes depicts or describes sexually explicit conduct, nudity, sex or certain bodily functions; or anything a reasonable person would find lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. According to State Code 61-8A-2, any adult who knowingly and intentionally displays obscene matter to a minor could be charged with a felony, fined up to $25,000 and face up to five years in prison if convicted.

People
Feb 15, 2024
The ABCs of Book Banning’ examines the rise of book censorship from the perspective of students. A new film is taking the book banning controversy all the way to the Oscars. The ABCs of Book Banning, a new documentary by acclaimed producer and director Sheila Nevins, is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film. The film examines the impact of book banning on students, told from their perspective.

NBC News
Feb 13, 2024
The association, founded in 1876, condemned legislation that would threaten librarians and other educators with criminal prosecution for possessing “obscene” material. Less than two months into 2024, lawmakers in at least 13 states have introduced legislation that could disrupt libraries’ services and censor their materials. The new wave of bills follows a historic year of book challenges, mainly affecting titles centered on the topics of race, gender identity or sexual orientation.

PEN America
Feb 13, 2024
(NEW YORK)—Joined by a coalition of authors – including Khaled Hosseini, Maia Kobabe, and Molly Knox Ostertag– PEN America today sent a letter to Rockingham (VA) County Public Schools protesting a recent ban on over 50 books and urging that the district return these books to shelves.

New York Times
Feb 3, 2024
As libraries become battlegrounds in the nation’s culture wars, their allies are fighting to preserve access to their collections and keep themselves out of jail, or worse. During 12 years as a youth librarian in northern Idaho, Denise Neujahr read to and befriended children of many backgrounds. Devout or atheist, gay or straight, all were welcome until a November evening in 2021, when about two dozen teens arriving at the Post Falls library for a meeting of the “Rainbow Squad” encountered a commotion at the entrance.

Esquire
Feb 2, 2024
Last week, the Hugo Awards melted down over unexplained disqualifications. Insiders tell Esquire what really happened—and what it could mean for the future of literary awards.

Reader's Digest
Feb 1, 2024
Book banning and censorship are nothing new, but you may have noticed more discussion on the topic lately in the news and on social media. Maybe you’ve even joined a debate over why some of the best books are now off limits. It’s important to note that while schools and libraries—or even a store—may ban books, it does not make banned books illegal to acquire or read. Of course, sometimes a ban on a book makes it just that much more, well, intriguing. Some teens, whose literary access is significantly challenged by many of the bans, have even created their own banned books clubs.

NPR
Jan 29, 2024
In the far, far suburbs of Houston, Texas, three teenagers are talking at a coffee shop about a clandestine bookshelf in their public school classroom. It's filled with books that have been challenged or banned. "Some of the books that I've read are books like Hood Feminism, The Poet X, Gabi, A Girl in Pieces," says one of the girls. She's a 17-year-old senior with round glasses and long braids. The books, she says, sparked her feminist consciousness. "I just see, especially in my community, a lot of women being talked down upon and those books [were] really nice to read."