Challenged or Banned Books

Related Links:
Freedom to Read Statement (from the American Library Association)
Intellectual Freedom and Censorship Q & A (from the American Library Association)
Libraries and First Amendment Issues (from the First Amendment Center of Vanderbilt (University) Institute for Public Policy Studies)

School vs. Public Libraries
What Makes Them Different in Controversies Related to Books?

School Libraries and the First Amendment
quoted from Freedom Forum, nonpartisan foundation promoting First Amendment rights

• "The First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and freedom of the press extend to public school libraries.
• School boards cannot restrict the availability of books in public school libraries simply because school-board members disagree with certain ideas or content.
• School officials may remove books from the public school library based on educational suitability, but they may not 'prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters of opinion.'"

Public Libraries and the First Amendment
adapted from Banned in the U.S.A. by Herbert N. Foerstel from NetLibrary book database
NOTE: login with library card/student ID off campus

• Public library use is voluntary in contrast to compulsory public education.
• Parents have more opportunity to decide what their children can view from the public library in contrast to children going with their class to read books at the school library.
• A broader community with wide-ranging interests is served by the public library vs. the school library.

• Ban = removal of a book or other material from a library of school
• Censorship = the practice of limiting or preventing access to information
• Challenge = concern about a content of a book or other material is voiced or in most cases, written down on a complaint form that begins a process of review by a librarian, school/library board, and/or administration
• Expurgate = removing or hiding words or other content of a book or other material in an effort to prevent access to the complete work done by individuals in most cases (p. 146 - American Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Manual, 7^th edition, 2006 - call number 025.213 Int 2006)
• Reinstate = book or other material has been reviewed by a higher authority (after an earlier ruling that caused a restriction or ban to be enacted) and its content has been determined to be of sufficient merit to return to library shelves
• Restrict = book or other material has been challenged and a governing body has ruled that it be placed in a more mature area of the library or put in a secure area that requires permission to view/read

• Alice in Jeopardy: A Novel - Ed McBain (MacB X) - 292 pages
• America (the Book): a Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction - Jon Stewart (814.54 Ste) - 227 pages
• Around the World in Eighty Days - Jules Verne (Ver) - 247 pages
• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman – Ernest J. Gaines (Gai) – 246 pages
• The Awakening and Other Stories – Kate Chopin (Cho SS) – 221 pages for The Awakening
• Bean Trees – Barbara Kingsolver (Kin) – 261 pages
• Black Like Me – John Howard Griffin (975.004 Gri) – 239 pages
• Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison (Mor) – 215 pages
• Born on the Fourth of July – Ron Kovic (959.704 Kov) – 216 pages
• The Botany of Desire: A Plant's Eye View of the World – Michael Pollan (306.45 Pol) – 271 pages
• Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions – Ben Mezrich (364.172 Mez) – 257 pages
• The Chocolate War – Robert Cormier (Cor - Young Adult Fiction) – 263 pages
• Crazy Lady – Jane Leslie Conly (Con – Young Adult Fiction) – 180 pages
• Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying –Derek Humphry (362.28 Hum) – 220 pages
• Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes (Key SF) – 286 pages
• Go Ask Alice – Anonymous (Go – Young Adult Fiction) – 212 pages
• How the García Girls Lost Their Accents – Julia Alvarez (Alv) – 286 pages
• Jaws – Peter Benchley (Ben) – 278 pages
• Life is Funny: A Novel – E.R. Frank (Fra – Young Adult Fiction) – 263 pages
• Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel (Esq) – 245 pages
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest – Ken Kesey (Kes) – 281 pages
• Ordinary People – Judith Guest (Gue) – 263 pages
• Ox-Bow Incident – Walter Van Tilburg Clark (Cla) – 246 pages
• Rainbow Boys – Alex Sanchez (San – Young Adult Fiction) – 233 pages
• The Spoken Word Revolution: Slam, Hip-Hop & the Poetry of a New Generation – edited by Mark Eleveld (811.508 Spo) – 241 pages
• Tobacco Road – Erskine Caldwell (Cal) – 184 pages
• Why Are We in Vietnam? – Norman Mailer (Mai) – 208 pages

Library Catalog

Other Libraries

How to Search for Banned or Challenged Book Information in a Database:

1. Use one of more of the databases below.
2. Enter the name of your book in quotations if it is more than one word - example: "Black Like Me").
3. Put the word, "and" between the book title and the author's last name - example: "Black Like Me" and Griffin.
4. Add the words, challenged or banned in parentheses to the search listing above.
   
   example: "Black Like Me" and Griffin and (challenged or banned)
   
   
5. Play with the words, challenged or banned if you get poor results. Substitute related words to get results such as remove, controversial, or restrict (or forms of those words).

How to Search for Banned or Challenged Book Information in Internet Searches:

1. Enter a similar search as above into Google or other search engine.
2. Google will accept an "or" search. So here is an example.
   
   example: "Black Like Me" Griffin challenged OR banned

Reasons for Books Being Challenged or Banned

From the American Booksellers Association, American Library Association, and other journalism or publishing organizations (compiled by Robert P. Doyle and posted on the Illinois Library Association web site), the documents below provide the reasons why action was taken against titles listed. NOTE: These lists may not include all titles challenged during that time period, but reflect titles challenged, restricted, removed, or banned as reported in the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom from the American Library Association.

• Books Challenged or Banned in 2007-2008
• Books Challenged or Banned in 2006-2007
• Books Challenged or Banned in 2005-2006
• Books Challenged or Banned in 2004-2005

• Banned and/or Challenged Books Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century from the American Library Association and the Radcliffe Publishing Course
• Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Sexual Grounds by Dawn B. Sova. New York: Facts on File, 2006 (Call number 809.933 Sov)
• Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Social Grounds by Dawn B. Sova. New York: Facts on File, 1998. (Call number 809.933 Sov)
• Banned Books Reports from the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas (NOTE: Page down the PDF reports to see summaries for why titles were challenged or banned in Texas during 2002-2007.)
• Banned Books Week: The Stories Behind Some of This Year's Book Bans and Challenges from the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE)
• Banned in the U.S.A. by Herbert N. Foerstel. Greewood, 2002. (Call number 025.213 Foe)
• The Students' Right to Read from the National Council of Teachers of English

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