You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring news about banned and challenged books.
My local school district in Tucson, Arizona is at the center of a growing national and international scandal over the racially-motivated confiscation and banning of textbooks, novels, and plays. I wrote about the district's actions in an earlier diary post. I don't know what more can be said at this point ... school district officials are in the early stages of a hunt for other "unapproved" books and additional bannings are likely. I'll continue to post about the situation as it unfolds.
Pending further developments in Tucson, I'll just say this: I think these book bannings are part of a trend I've tried to spotlight in previous blog posts: efforts by political and religious groups to organize and coordinate book bannings and challenges on a national scale.
And now, in other book banning news:
Idaho forbids teachers from assigning any book deemed religious:
When government officials ban the objective study of all religious texts, including the most important literary works of all time, such as the Bible, The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Iliad, The Odyssey, it only contributes to the further dumbing down of public school education.
You have to admit, this is an intriguing headline:
Boo! Poo, Ban Onan in the Loo
Libraries walk a tightrope on porn:
Librarians have the authority ... to tap patrons on the shoulder when they are viewing such content and tell them to take the material down, or to leave the library altogether if they persist in bringing up obscene imagery.
Another parental book challenge, this time in Maine:
I read it cover to cover. I was appalled. This book does nothing to elevate students. It implies that everyone speaks and acts that way.
Really? Your kid is exposed to an idea you don't approve of, and your first thought is to ban the idea?
... I can still succeed in getting 'Fish is Fish' banned in Marathon County.
Sure, that'll work ... ban The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian from every school in the country and the curse of Onan will be lifted from the nation's children:
'I was angry. I was enraged,' said Vincent. 'She knows about a boy and a girl, she knows about sex. But she doesn't know the details of masturbation.'
Righteous snark from the New York Daily News:
Toni Morrison's 'Beloved' is simplistic pornography, say two Michigan parents who don't appear to be very smart
Ref the previous entry ... students got involved, along with enlightened parents, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the American Library Association, and Toni Morrison's novel Beloved will stay on the AP English reading list:
Students at the Plymouth-Canton Schools in Michigan got a crash course in politics this week.