Freedom for All? Focus On the First Amendment

There is clearly a misunderstanding of the First Amendment by many of our nation’s citizens. It isn’t that they weren’t taught the United States Constitution in school; it’s simply that they weren’t taught to draw a connection between the Constitution and their own lives. This may be why so many people turn their heads in book censorship cases or when the Patriot Act is being debated in Congress.

The First Amendment gives American citizens a voice, but there are those who believe that this amendment doesn’t apply to the young. Under the First Amendment, students are granted the right to be heard. There are court cases to prove it. Steven Pico’s journey to retain 11 books in the school libraries of the Island Trees Union Free School District on Long Island, NY, began in 1976 and ended in the halls of the Supreme Court in 1982. Students in Olathe, KS, fought their battle to keep Nancy Garden’s Annie on My Mind (Farrar, 1982) in their school library in 1984. And, in 2002, a fourth grader in Cedarville, AR, challenged the school administration to remove restrictions on the “Harry Potter” books (Scholastic) so that all students could have equal and open access to them.

New free-speech issues related to children and young adults are cropping up all over the nation. Social networking, open access to the Internet, school newspapers and freedom of the press, and privacy in schools are among them. No teacher or school administrator should wait for any of these issues to play out in a courtroom. It’s much better when a classroom becomes an open forum where students feel that their opinions are heard. The following books and Web sites are recommended for students as they begin their journey toward understanding the First Amendment and what it means to be intellectually free.

ANDERSON, Laurie Halse. Speak. Farrar. 1999. Tr $17. ISBN 978-0-374-37152-4.

Gr 9 Up–Melinda Sordino is labeled an outcast by her peers after she calls the police during a wild party. When people in her town want to burn Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Melinda finds a friend–the high school librarian who completely understands her loneliness and what it feels like to be ostracized. Audiobook available from Listening Library.

AVI. Nothing but the Truth: A Documentary Novel. Scholastic/Orchard. 2003. Tr $9.95. ISBN 978-0-439-32730-5.

Gr 7 Up–In order to aggravate his homeroom teacher, ninth-grader Philip Malloy refuses to sing the words of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and ends up suspended from school. Soon after, the student body, parents, teachers, and local and national news manage to turn the story into a media frenzy that poses questions about free speech and patriotism.

BRANDE, Robin. Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature. Knopf. 2007. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-0-375-84349-5; PLB $18.99. ISBN 978-0-375-94349-2.

Gr 9 Up–Mena Reece is 14 years old when she is kicked out of her church group because she speaks out against an “anti-gay” protest led by members of her church. Now, the same group is lobbying the school board to abolish the teaching of evolution. Watching a courageous teacher defend academic freedom reinforces Mena’s choice to speak up, even when it means losing her friends. Audiobook available from Listening Library.

BRYANT, Jen. Ringside, 1925: Views from the Scopes Trial. Knopf. Feb. 2008. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-0-375-84047-0; PLB $18.99. ISBN 978-0-375-94047-7.

Gr 5-8–This novel in verse tells the story of the Scopes Trial in Dayton, TN, from the viewpoints of various people who live in the small town. They reflect on the circuslike atmosphere created when national reporters, photographers, lawyers, and religious leaders descend upon their community–all to debate the teaching of evolution.

CRUTCHER, Chris. The Sledding Hill. HarperCollins/Greenwillow. 2005. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-06-050243-0; PLB $17.89. ISBN 978-0-06-050244-7.

Gr 9 Up–Even though Eddie’s friend Billy dies in a violent accident, he manages to stay in touch with Eddie and offers advice about dealing with a censorship case that develops in Eddie’s literature class. Challenging the book is a high school teacher who moonlights as a minister on the weekends. Crutcher shows up as a character in the novel, reflecting personal struggles to defend his own books.

CUSHMAN, Karen. The Loud Silence of Francine Green. Clarion. 2006. Tr $16. ISBN 978-0-618-50455-8.

Gr 5-8–Living near Hollywood in the 1950s, 13-year-old Francine Green has never thought about the atom bomb, Communists, the blacklist, Joseph McCarthy, and free speech until Sophie Bowman, the outspoken only child of a screenwriter who has raised her to question authority and speak out, transfers to her class. Audiobook available from Listening Library.

FUQUA, Jonathan Scott. Darby. Candlewick. 2002. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-1417-1; pap. $5.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-2290-9.

Gr 5-8–Set in a small South Carolina town in 1926, this story features nine-year-old Darby, the daughter of a white farmer, and Evette, the daughter of a black sharecropper, good friends who have their sights set on becoming journalists. When a local newspaper allows Darby to write articles, she seeks editorial advice from Evette, and a near riot erupts when Darby writes about a racially motivated murder.

GARDEN, Nancy. The Year They Burned the Books. Farrar. 1999. Tr $17. ISBN 978-0-374-38667-2.

Gr 9 Up–Jamie Crawford, a high school senior and the editor of the school newspaper, creates chaos when she writes an editorial in favor of a new health curriculum that includes the distribution of condoms and open discussion about homosexuality. A group called “Families for Traditional Values” gathers support from local citizens and conducts a book burning in protest.

HENTOFF, Nat. The Day They Came to Arrest the Book. Random. 1983. pap. $5.99. ISBN 978-0-440-91814-1.

Gr 9 Up–A near riot develops in an English class when a few students protest the study of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The editor of the school newspaper becomes involved, and, in a public hearing, reveals the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of certain library books and the sudden resignation of the librarian.

KIDD, Ronald. Monkey Town: The Summer of the Scopes Trial. S & S. 2006. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-1-4169-0572-1; pap. $6.99. ISBN 978-1-4169-4921-3.

Gr 5-8–Fifteen-year-old Frances Robinson tells the story of the summer of 1925 when Johnny Scopes, a high school science teacher and part-time football coach, is tried for teaching evolution in the teen’s hometown of Dayton, TN. Audiobook available from Listening Library.

KOJA, Kathe. Talk. Farrar. 2005. Tr $16. ISBN 978-0-374-37382-5; pap. $6.99. ISBN 978-0-312-37605-5.

Gr 9 Up–Kit, a quiet and closeted gay high school junior, wins the leading male role in a controversial school play. Lindsay, a senior and a self-confident actress, plays opposite him. In alternating chapters, the two reveal parallel plots about what happens when a group of parents attempts to censor the play and how the school community deals with Kit as he struggles with coming out.

KRISHER, Trudy. Fallout. Holiday House. 2006. Tr $17.95. ISBN 978-0-8234-2035-3.

Gr 9 Up–It’s 1954, and Genevieve, a high school freshman in the small coastal town of Easton, NC, doesn’t get why her father is obsessed with the words of Senator Joseph McCarthy until she meets Brenda Wompers, an outspoken and liberal new girl from California. Brenda, along with her parents, petitions the school board to abandon the civil-defense curriculum and teach the dangers of atomic-bomb testing instead.

LASKY, Kathryn. Memoirs of a Bookbat. Harcourt. 1994. Tr $10.95. ISBN 978-0-15-215727-2; pap. $6.95. ISBN 978-0-15-201259-5.

Gr 5-8–Fourteen-year-old Harper Jessup, an avid reader who loves fantasy, runs away because she feels that her individual rights are threatened when her parents, born-again fundamentalists, become instigators of a local book censorship movement.

MEYER, Carolyn. Drummers of Jericho. Harcourt. 1995. Tr $11. ISBN 978-0-15-200441-5; pap. $6. ISBN 978-0-15-200190-2.

Gr 5-8–Fourteen-year-old Pazit Trujillo, a Jewish girl, moves from Denver to live with her father in the small, predominately Christian town of Jericho. When she joins the high school marching band and discovers that it plays hymns and stands in the formation of a cross, she objects, and major issues of individual religious rights are raised.

PECK, Richard. The Last Safe Place on Earth. Random. 2006. Tr $15.95. ISBN 978-0-385-32052-8; pap. $5.99. ISBN 978-0-440-22007-7.

Gr 5-8–Seven-year-old Marnie Tobin has nightmares after Laurel, a teenage babysitter, tells her that Halloween is “evil.” When Marnie’s older brother becomes aware that Laurel is a member of an organized right-wing group that is attempting to censor books in his high school library, he begins to feel that the once-safe, quiet environment of his supposedly idyllic neighborhood is threatened.

PROSE, Francine. After. HarperCollins/Joanna Cotler Bks. 2003. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-06-008081-5; PLB $17.89. ISBN 978-0-06-008082-2; pap. $8.99. ISBN 978-0-06-008083-9.

Gr 9 Up–Students at Pleasant Valley High School are annoyed with new security restrictions, but they don’t become too concerned until two classmates disappear because they didn’t comply with the rules. When school administrators begin to conduct random drug tests, backpack searches, and book censorship, and enforce new dress-code regulations, some of the students raise questions about privacy and their individual rights.

SELZER, Adam. How to Get Suspended and Influence People. Delacorte. 2007. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-0-385-73369-4; PLB $18.99. ISBN 978-0-385-90384-4.

Gr 6-8–Leon Noside Harris, a gifted eighth-grader, causes uproar in his school when he makes an avant-garde sex-education film that tells kids the “truth” about sex. When Leon challenges his teacher’s interpretation of free speech, he and his classmates begin questioning the meaning of the First Amendment and its application to inquisitive students.

WINERIP, Michael. Adam Canfield of the Slash. Candlewick. 2005. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-2340-1; pap. $5.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-2794-2.

Gr 5-8–Adam and Jennifer are coeditors of the Slash, the Harris Elementary/Middle School newspaper. When third-grader Phoebe, a cub reporter, wants to write a feature about the janitor, the principal censors the story, causing the children to believe that she is hiding something. The Slash reporters are smart, curious, and determined to deliver the news to the community anyway. Adam Canfield Watch Your Back (Candlewick, 2007) is equally entertaining. Audiobooks available from Brilliance Audio.

DAY, Nancy. Censorship: Or Freedom of Expression? Lerner. 2005. PLB $25.26. ISBN 978-0-8225-2628-5.

Gr 7 Up–In 1976, high school student Steven Pico challenged the removal of books from his school library by the Island Trees (NY) School District. That landmark case is used to introduce the topic of censorship and its application to the lives of students. There is a discussion about types of censorship, such as limited access to library materials and self-censorship among teachers and school library media specialists.

FREEDMAN, Russell. In Defense of Liberty: The Story of America’s Bill of Rights. Holiday House. 2003. Tr $24.95. ISBN 978-0-8234-1585-4.

Gr 5-8–The historical background of the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution is discussed while readers are asked to think about important questions like, “Should school children be required to salute the American flag?” Supreme Court cases are quoted to support the intent of the writers of the Bill of Rights and to apply these amendments to today’s environment.

GREEN, Jonathon & Nicholas J. Karolides. The Encyclopedia of Censorship. Facts On File. 2005. Tr $85. ISBN 978-0-8160-4464-1.

Gr 9 Up–Originally published in 1990, this updated edition covers a new decade of issues. There are 37 new entries for book challenges, including: “Harry Potter,” Daddy’s Roommate, The Giver, It’s Perfectly Normal, and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Other related discussions include: Communications Decency Act, Child Online Protection Act, and Children’s Internet Protection Act, all threats to free-speech rights.

HAYNES, Charles C., Sam Chaltain, & Susan M. Glisson. First Freedoms: A Documentary History of First Amendment Rights in America. Oxford Univ. 2006. Tr $40. ISBN 978-0-19-515750-5.

Gr 9 Up–The stories of the men and women who shaped the First Amendment and fought to retain these first freedoms are told in sequential order, beginning in 1663 when religious liberty was the primary issue. Current issues raise questions related to maintaining a balance between freedom and national security.

JARROW, Gail. The Printer’s Trial: The Case of John Peter Zenger and the Fight for a Free Press. Boyds Mills. 2006. Tr $18.95. ISBN 978-1-59078-432-7.

Gr 5-8–Numerous quotes from primary resources and a well-researched narrative chronicle the 1795 arrest and trial of John Peter Zenger and his ultimate contribution to freedom of the press.

KRULL, Kathleen. A Kids’ Guide to America’s Bill of Rights: Curfews, Censorship, and the 100-Pound Giant. illus. by Anna DiVito. HarperCollins. 1999. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-380-97497-9.

Gr 5-8–This discussion of the first 10 amendments of the United States Constitution includes historical references and Supreme Court cases. Peppered with humorous illustrations, it also deals with specific issues related to children, like illegal locker searches, school newspapers and free speech, school prayer and religious freedom, and banned books. The 100-pound giant is, of course, James Madison, “Father of the Constitution.”

WILLIS, Clyde E. Student’s Guide to Landmark Congressional Laws on the First Amendment. Greenwood. 2002. Tr $56.95. ISBN 978-0-313-31416-2.

Gr 9 Up–Nine historical and contemporary First Amendment issues and laws, including campaign financing, obscenity, the right to assemble, and freedom of religion are organized by topic. Each entry includes historical background, a discussion of the intent of the law, and the impact of the law on American citizens.