Tag Archives: book banning

The Texas Tribune reports: A bill that would give parents more power over which books their children can read in public school libraries will soon go before Texas senators for a full vote. The measure was approved Tuesday by a 10-1 vote in the Senate Committee on Education K-16. Introduced last month by Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, Senate Bill 13 …

Oscar winner Julianne Moore writes on Instagram: It is a great shock for me to learn that my first book, Freckleface Strawberry, has been banned by the Trump Administration from schools run by the Department of Defense. Freckleface Strawberry is a semi-autobiographical story about a seven year old girl who dislikes her freckles but eventually learns to live with them …

Michigan Live reports: Books with sexually explicit or LGBTQ content would largely be protected from being pulled off public library shelves under new legislation proposed by Michigan Democrats. The two bills introduced Nov. 7 would require public libraries to adopt uniform policies outlining unacceptable reasons for residents to request a book be removed from the shelves. School and university libraries …

Courthouse News reports: A recently enacted law requiring Idaho schools and libraries to remove materials that are “harmful” to minors infringes on the First Amendment rights of private entities, a group of private schools, privately-funded libraries, parents and schoolchildren say in a Thursday lawsuit. House Bill 710 — which took effect July 1 after Governor Brad Little [photo] signed it …

Miami’s ABC affiliate reports: Florida residents who don’t have children attending school will have significantly fewer chances to challenge books in local K-12 libraries under a new law signed Tuesday by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Residents who don’t have a child in school will only be able to challenge one title per month under the new law. Meant to curb what …

ABC News reports: The American Library Association released its annual list of the top 10 most targeted books of 2023 on Monday, the majority of which were challenges because of their LGBTQ content. “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe topped the list for the third year in a row. The graphic memoir, which chronicles the author’s experience with sexuality and gender …

Gothamist reports: 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. …

Politico reports: Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature wanted to keep obscene books out of the hands of kids. But some are now acknowledging they created a “logistical nightmare” that lawmakers are trying to rein in. Legislators this month introduced a new idea to curb frivolous challenges to books — one of the first admissions the law, which tightened scrutiny around books with …

The Baltimore Banner reports: Whether it’s a textbook or a library book, it won’t be allowed in Carroll County Public Schools if deemed sexually explicit by school officials. That’s thanks to a new policy passed unanimously by its school board Wednesday. The vote came after a monthslong campaign by the conservative parent group Moms for Liberty, whose members challenged dozens …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: A total of 673 books, from classics to best-sellers, have been removed from Orange County classrooms this year for fear they violate new state rules that ban making “sexual conduct” available to public school students. The list also includes popular novels by Stephen King, Sue Monk Kidd and Jodi Picoult, classics like “A Tree Grows in …

The Berkshire Eagle reports: The plainclothed police officer who entered an eighth grade classroom to search for a book wore a body camera and recorded the incident, leading to more legal questions and concerns. The ACLU and other free speech advocates say they are alarmed by the recording, as well as the entire Dec. 8 incident that took place after …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Hitmaker P!nk has teamed with free-speech advocates PEN America and will distribute banned books at her first couple of concert stops in Florida this week. P!nk, known for chart-topping hits such as “Raise Your Glass,” “Get This Party Started” and “So What,” kicks off the Florida leg of her current tour in Miami on Tuesday, with …

The Kansas Reflector reports: St. Marys Mayor Matthew Childs, who previously attempted to ban LGBTQ books from the city’s public library, lost on his school board bid. Tuesday’s election saw several candidates from the religion-dominated area attempt to win school board seats on the USD 321 Kaw Valley School Board. Elias Espinoza and Jodi Porter were elected to the board. …

The Daily Beast reports: In social media posts on Monday, Only Murders In The Building star Steve Martin said he was “proud” that his 2000 novel Shopgirl was among more than 300 books pulled from Collier County Public School libraries in Florida. “So proud to have my book Shopgirl banned in Collier County, Florida! Now people who want to read …

The Birmingham News reports: “Read Me a Story, Stella” is a children’s picture book about a pair of siblings reading books together and building a doghouse. However, because the author’s name is Marie-Louise Gay, the book was added to a list of potentially “sexually explicit” books to be moved from the children’s section of the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library (HCPL) …

Tampa’s CBS affiliate reports: According to a list released by Florida’s Department of Education, school districts across the state issued a combined total of 386 book bans after receiving a total of 1,218 objections in 2022. More than half of the objections were raised by the same two people: Bruce Friedman, the founder of the Florida chapter of the activist …

“I put some lube on and got him on his knees. And I began to slide into him from behind. I pulled out of him and kissed him while he masturbated. He asked me to turn over while he slipped a condom on himself. This was my ass, and I was struggling to imagine someone inside me. He got on …

The Tallahassee Democrat reports: Manatee County officials have removed “Christian, the Hugging Lion” by Justin Richardson, a 32-page children’s book about two men who raise a lion named Christian in a London apartment. When Christian becomes too big, the two men release the lion into the wild in Africa. When the men go to visit Christian in Africa, they find …

The Texas Tribune reports: A federal judge said Thursday he will stop a new Texas law aimed at keeping sexually explicit materials off of school library shelves on the eve of the law going into effect, according to state attorneys and lawyers for a group who sued over the proposal. District Judge Alan D. Albright indicated during a hearing that …

The Guardian reports: For the past two years, book banning has been on the rise in schools and libraries across the US, mainly due to far-right pressure. Now the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is trying to fight back. It recently launched the Banned Book Program, granting free nationwide access to books restricted in schools or libraries. It functions …