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We often think of 'book banning' or censorship as only happening in the past, but there are hundreds of challenges every year, and quite a few succeed. In fact, we're seeing a tsunami of book challenges across the United States right now, and several states have even passed laws making it easier to pull books from K-12 schools and libraries. Here are some 2024 news stories, all from the past couple of months:
The New York Times gives a rundown of the states that most recently passed laws restricting books in schools -- South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah. (Texas, Missouri, and Florida led the way over the last couple of years, but they are not the only ones.)
Speaking of South Carolina, that new law means that Greenville schools won't have book fairs this year, since how can they vet every single book that arrives in the fair boxes?
So what about California? California has joined some other states, like Minnesota, in passing laws that ban book bans in schools.
Not everyone in California is happy about that, such as some folks in Fresno who have been planning to impose book oversight committees. (Librarians, as we know, cannot be trusted to choose books for children, even though that is their actual job.)
Idaho has passed such restrictive laws about public library access for children that this mom couldn't go into the adult section of the library....because her infant doesn't have a library card. Check out her videos to see further explanations of the law.
A small-town librarian who spoke out against censorship has become a pariah, so she wrote a memoir.
CBS gives a rundown of the top 13 challenged books list. (Usually it's a top ten, but there were a lot of ties.)
A Texas teacher was fired after showing the graphic novel of Anne Frank's diary to her 8th grade class. The school district (which has not yet been named) sent an email calling the book "inappropriate" and saying “The reading of that content will cease immediately. Your student’s teacher will communicate her apologies to you and your students soon, as she has expressed those apologies to us."
A visiting author, talking to schoolkids about his book about one of the co-creators of Batman, mentioned that the man's son was gay. This is pertinent to the story, but the principal apologized to all parents and canceled the author's other visits in the district.
Read about "how a Florida county became the book ban heartland of the US."
Fort Worth schools closed libraries for the first two weeks of class while all the books were scrutinized for any sexual content. A new state law requiring ratings on books went into effect on Sept. 1, but the rules for the ratings won't be published until spring. Until then, everything is in limbo.
Pahrump, Nevada is considering requiring that any books with any content about race, gender, or sexuality be shelved in the adult section of the library.
The ACLU is suing Idaho over a new law prohibiting any discussion of abortion using state funding. The trouble is, universities use state funding, and they also need to be able to discuss issues around abortion...
A drama teacher at a Temecula high school gave students a choice about plays to read, including Angels in America. The teacher is now on leave and may not be allowed to return.
In Ozark, Alabama, a mayor ignited a furor over LGBT+ books in the library, asking how he could get over 60 titles removed. A board of trustee member offered to bring a match.
Texas is ground zero for these censorship fights. Here's one article.
In Samuels, Virginia, anti-LGBT books activists are threatening to shut the library down entirely.
Stamped, the teen edition of Ibram X. Kendi's book about anti-racism, was removed from classrooms at this school, but allowed to remain in the high school library.
Volunteers scour shelves for materials they deem inappropriate in Midland. (Why do the rest of us have to comply with their tastes? Shouldn't each parent be able to choose for their own family?)
This town has packed the library oversight board with 7 new members, all with one goal: to disallow 'social or political displays' at the library. By that, they mean pride displays.
Moms for Liberty in Indiana have found a shortcut to getting books pulled from school libraries. A new law mandates that anything that can't be read aloud in a school board meeting must be pulled. So they read embarrassing passages, get shut down, and voila! The books are gone!
In Washington state, activists wanted LGBT books taken out of the public library. When that didn't succeed, they put a proposition on the ballot to dissolve the entire library system. A judge has put a two-week delay on the proposition.