|
Kids’ Right to Read
Project Reports Spike in Book Challenges in Schools
There has been a surge in the number of challe nges
to books used in the public schools over the past four weeks, according
to the Kids' Right to Read Project (KRRP). KRRP is an initiative of
ABFFE and
the
National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC)
that works with booksellers, librarians, teachers, and others to oppose
book censorship incidents in schools and libraries.
KRRP has confronted eight book challenges and bans in recent weeks.
School officials in Burke County, NC, have received complaints about a
number of titles, including Toni Morrison's
Beloved and Alice Walker's
The Color Purple. Click
here to read the letter ABFFE and NCAC
sent in response. One student's parents challenged
And Tango Makes Three in
Ankeny, IA, and want the book removed from district elementary schools.
Read KRRP's response. Another parent
in Brownsville, OR, has challenged a book of satirical cartoons,
The Book of Bunny Suicides by
Andy Riley, and has asked that it be removed from the Central Linn High
School library.
Read KRRP's response.
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo
Anaya was removed from tenth grade classes in Newman-Crows Landing (CA)
USD.
Read KRRP's letter to the local
newspaper, the Modesto Bee.
And New Rochelle, NY, school officials have removed pages from Susanna
Kaysen's memoir, Girl, Interrupted,
which is used in New Rochelle High School film classes. Read more
here.
ABFFE and NCAC also protested the banning of
TTYL by Lauren Myracle from
middle school libraries throughout Round Rock, TX, Independent School
District. Two review committees had voted to retain the book, but the
superintendent banned it before the Board of Trustees could act,
directly violating district policy.
Read KRRP's response.
 Not all the news has been bad. ABFFE and NCAC welcomed the recent
decision of the Thief River Falls, MN, Board of Education to keep the
book, Kaffir Boy by Mark
Mathabane, in ninth grade classes at Lincoln High School. The book had
been challenged by a few parents who objected to sexual violence and
graphic language in the book. The unabridged version of Kaffir Boy
will be taught, and parents and students who object to it may request to
read the abridged version or another title.
Click here to read KRRP's letter opposing the
challenges. In addition, the Sherwood, OR, School Board
voted to retain Grendel by John
Gardner in 10th grade classes after it was challenged for sexual content
and violence.
Read KRRP's response.
Over the past year, the Kids' Right to Read Project has confronted
challenges and bans involving 45 titles in 15 states.
ABFFE Survey Shows Booksellers Love Banned Books Week
A recent online survey by ABFFE shows that booksellers
who participate in Banned Books Week consider it important and fun for
both staff and customers. "[U]sually customers were surprised at the
books on display and tried to name the reasons they were banned," one
bookseller wrote. Another said that store staff displayed a list of
frequently challenged titles "at the cash wrap. [We] shared it with
customers and had some very lively discussions!" Over 90 per cent of
the more than 100 respondents said they plan to participate again next
year. They also offered a number of suggestions for improving the
event.
The booksellers report that their customers "showed an interest in the
books that had been targeted" and enjoyed booksellers' displays,
buttons, and other efforts to celebrate the event. Some said that
customers thanked them for demonstrating their support for the First
Amendment and the freedom to read in their communities. Only a few
booksellers reported hostile comments by their customers.
Some booksellers said their window displays attracted attention, and
one respondent even reported that customers stopped to take pictures
of the window. Other booksellers noted that frequently, customers
responded to Banned Books Week displays and activities by purchasing
books. Many cheered the new Banned Books Week Web site,
www.bannedbooksweek.org, which provides resources on banned
books and a national directory of participating bookstores and
libraries.
There were a number of things that booksellers said could be
improved. More national publicity, additional marketing material, and
more timely promotion to booksellers were mentioned frequently.
"There were a number of very constructive suggestions, and we will be
working hard this year to respond to them," ABFFE President Chris
Finan said.
Winter Institute Program to Promote Free Speech as Business
Strategy
American booksellers have opposed censorship since the 1920s, but they
do not always recognize that their defense of free speech is a strong
selling point with their customers. In January, ABFFE will sponsor a program
at the American Booksellers Association's Winter Institute in Salt Lake
City to address this issue. ABFFE President Chris Finan
will moderate a discussion among several booksellers who have taken a
leading role in the fight for free speech. They will discuss how
speaking out on First Amendment issues, participating in Banned Books
Week, and organizing programs on current free speech issues has
attracted people to their stores, built customer loyalty, and positioned
them to effectively confront censorship issues that may arise in their
communities. The program is Saturday, Jan. 31, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
ABFFE President
Elected Chair of Media Coalition
 On December 10,
ABFFE President Chris Finan was elected to serve as the 2009 chair of
Media Coalition, the trade association
dedicated to defending the First Amendment rights of publishers,
booksellers, and librarians, recording, motion picture and video games
producers, and recording, video, and video game retailers in the United
States.
"I am extremely pleased that Chris Finan, who is incredibly
knowledgeable about free speech issues and well respected, is assuming
the chair of Media Coalition," declared Sean Bersell, outgoing chair of
Media Coalition and Vice President, Public Affairs of the Entertainment
Merchants Association. "The leadership and credibility he brings to our
efforts will enhance our ability to counter government censorship of
publications and entertainment."
In the past year, Media Coalition successfully challenged an Indiana law
that would have regulated as an "adult business" any business that
offered even a single "sexually explicit" work, successfully organized
opposition to a proposed Arizona law to make retailers liable for the
acts of criminals that were allegedly caused by books or entertainment
sold by the retailer, prosecuted lawsuits against state laws that
attempt to limit material on the Internet to only what is appropriate
for minors, and supported video game publishers and retailers in their
lawsuits to overturn state video game restriction laws.
|
 The
ABFFE Book of the Month for December is The Miracle Case: Film
Censorship and the Supreme Court by Laura Wittern-Keller and Raymond
J. Haberski Jr. (University Press of Kansas), 978-0-7006-1618-3.
It was only a forty-minute foreign film, but it sparked a legal
confrontation that has left its mark on America for more than half a
century. Roberto Rossellini's Il Miracolo (The Miracle) is deceptively
simple: a demented peasant woman is seduced by a stranger she believes
to be Saint Joseph, is socially ostracized for becoming pregnant out of
wedlock, but is finally redeemed through motherhood.
Although initially approved by state censors for screening in New York,
the film was attacked as sacrilegious by the Catholic establishment,
which convinced state officials to revoke distributor Joseph Burstyn's
license. In response, Burstyn fought back through the courts and won.
In The Miracle Case: Film Censorship and the Supreme Court,
authors Laura Wittern-Keller and Raymond Haberski show how the Supreme
Court's unanimous 1952 ruling in Burstyn's favor sparked a chain of
litigation that eventually brought filmmaking under the protective
umbrella of the First Amendment.
Click here to read an interview with the authors.
To read about recent ABFFE Book of the Month selections, click
here.
|
Show Your Support for Freadom!
ABFFE's
popular “freadom” t-shirts, buttons, bookmarks, bumper
stickers, and more are available during Banned Books Week and all year round. To
order online, visit the ABFFE store.
For further information,
contact Rebecca Zeidel, (212) 587-4025, ext. 13;
rebecca@abffe.com.
|
