Censorship Roundup

Print |

Reprint/License |

Subscription |

RSS |

By Staff -- School Library Journal, 11/01/2003

Comment
on this article

Austin, TX: Texas public schools banned 36 books during the 2002–2003 school year, the same number as the previous year, according to an annual report by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. The report also reveals a statewide total of 134 book challenges in 71 districts. The most frequently banned books were Alice on the Outside by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor and Forever by Judy Blume, with Naylor taking the prize as the most often banned author. The McKinney school district reported the highest total challenges (11) and the most banned books (5).

Fowlerville, MI: The Fowlerville school board committee voted October 1 to restore the previously banned Whale Talk (Greenwillow, 2001) by Chris Crutcher to the high school English curriculum. The novel, which deals with racism at a high school, had been pulled from the required reading list in September after local resident Olivia Verfaillie complained about the book's profane language. Several Fowlerville High School teachers and a student defended the book before the committee. Crutcher plans to visit Fowlerville to thank his supporters.

Knox County, TN: The library services chief of Knox County Schools has ordered the district's 19 middle and high schools to review their subscriptions to Seventeen magazine after a parent objected to a suggestive fragrance ad from French Connection United Kingdom showing a scantily clad couple with the caption "scent to bed." District Library Services Coordinator Pat Mashburn acted after receiving a complaint from parent Carla Harris, whose 12-year-old daughter attends a district middle school. Each school will form a review committee to decide whether to keep the magazine, and several schools have already cancelled their subscriptions. Seventeen recently pulled the ad, and French Connection withdrew the ad from Teen People, among several other teenage publications.