Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

in
Two Boys Kissing
By David Levithan

Two boys try to set a world record for kissing after their friend is beaten in this YA novel. One lady tried to get it thrown out of libraries for sexual content.

National Book Award longlist

Stonewall Honor Book

Inspired by true events

Banned

Cover image of two boys kissing - author states that the cover shows what happens in the book and does not lie. When asked if this would discourage LGBT teens from openly reading or checking out the book from libraries, the author conceded this was possible but says that having the book in the library, representing the community, and normalizing the subject is more important.

#5 on the ALA's Top 10 Banned and Challenged of 2016

2014 - Virginia - A parent filed a complaint with Fauqier County Schools to remove the book after reviewing 46 sample pages on Amazon.com and disagreeing with the sexual content (claiming not the homosexual content). The school refused to remove the material from the libraries. On appeal to the school board committee, a unanimous vote allowed the book to stay in the school libraries.

2016 - "condones public displays of affection"

2019 - Iowa - Religious activist Robert Dorr checked out the book and two other from Orange City Public Library and posted a video of himself burning the books. Dorr was convicted of criminal mischief and forced to pay a fine.

Sources

Aviles, Gwen. “Religious activist convicted for burning LGBTQ library books.” NBCnews.com. August 7, 2019. Retrieved August 12, 2019 from https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/religious-activist-convicted-burning-lgbtq-library-books-n1040051

Request to Ban ‘Two Boys Kissing’ from Virginia High School Library Denied - School Library Journal

Spotlight on Censorship: ‘Two Boys Kissing’ - Intellectual Freedom Blog

This One Summer Tops ALA’s Top Ten Challenged Books List - Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

TWO BOYS KISSING - Marshall University Libraries

Two Boys Kissing - National Coalition Against Censorship wiki

Two Boys Kissing Stays on Shelves in Virginia School System (For Now) - Comic Boook Legal Defense Fund

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

in ,
The Handmaid's Tale
By Margaret Atwood

We learn about the Handmaid and her/his tale about the alien artifact that brings water back to the world.

Banned

1990 - California - Challenged as assignment at Rancho Cotati High School in Rohnert Park as "too explicit for students"

1992 - Iowa - Challenged yet retained in Waterloo schools for profanity, sexually explicit material, and "statements defamatory to minorities, God, women, and the disabled"

1993 - Massachusetts - Removed from Chicopee High School English class reading list for sex and profanity

1998 - Washington - Challenged with six other titles in Richland high school English classes for being "poor-quality literature and stress suicide, illicit sex, violence, and hopelessness."

1999 - Florida - Challenged but retained on advanced placement reading list in Chamberlain High School in Tampa

2000 - Pennsylvania - Upper Moreland School District downgraded the book from "required" to "optional" on the summer reading list for eleventh graders due to "age-inappropriate" subject matter.

2001 - Texas - Challenged but retained in the Dripping Springs senior Advanced Placement English courses as an optional assignment. Sexual encounters in the book upset some parents.

2006 - Texas - A parent complained to Superintendent Ed Lyman of the Judson school district that the book was "sexually explicit and offensive to Christians" and asked it be removed from an Advanced Placement English curriculum. A committee of teachers, students, and parents recommended the book be retained. The superintendent banned the book against the committee's recommendations. The committee appealed to the school board, which overruled the superintendent and retained the book.

2012 - North Carolina - Parents complained the book was "detrimental to Christian values" and the book was banned for "sexually explicit, violently graphic and morally corrupt" and challenged as required reading for Page High School International Baccaluraeate and optional reading in Advance Placement courses at Grimsley High School.

Sources

Doyle, Robert P. Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read. ALA. 2014.

Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher

in

It's a bunch of sports related small stories, and Granny Wendy would be mad.

Banned

#44 Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009

1995 - South Carolina - Challenged in Charleston County for divorce, violence, AIDS, and homosexuality.

1999 - Alaska - Challenged and pulled but retained from Anchorage middle school libraries after a parent complained about lack of respect for parents and God as well as homosexuality and language.

2004 - Iowa - "In the Time I Get" was challenged and retained on the Solon 8th grade language arts class for discussion of AIDS.

Sources

Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009

Doyle, Robert P. Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read. ALA: 2014.

"Dances and Dames" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher

in
Whale Talk
By Chris Crutcher

Gathering a group of ragtag individuals is important, either to get confidence through sports or take down a conservationist construction worker with owls.

Banned

2005

Alabama - Removed for profanity from Limestone County high school libraries

Michigan - Challenged at Grand Ledge High School

South Carolina - Removed from the suggested reading list for a pilot English-literature curriculum by the superintendent of the South Carolina Board of Education

2007 - Iowa - Challenged at the Missouri Valley High School for racial slurs and profanity

Sources

Doyle, Robert P. "Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read." ALA. 2014.

"Dances and Dames" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

in
Lord of the Flies
By William Golding

Our humanity is building the hope that we are better than we are.

Banned

1974 - Texas - Challenged at the Dallas Independent School District HIgh School libraries.

1981

North Carolina - Challenged at the Owen High School for "demoralizing inasmuch as it implies that man is little more than an animal."

South Dakota - Challenged at the Sully Buttes High School.

1983 - Arizona - Challenged at the Marana High School as inappropriate.

1984 - Texas - Challenged at the Olney Independent School District for "excessive violence and bad language."

1988 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada 0 Board of Education ruled on June 23, 1988 that the novel is "racist and recommended that it be removed from all schools." Parents and members of the black community complained about a reference to "niggers" in the book and said it denigrates blacks.

1992 - Iowa - Challenged in the Waterloo schools for profanity, passages about sex, and defamatory statements about minorities, God, women, and the disabled.

2000 - New York - Challenged but retained in Bloomfield on the ninth grade English reading list.

Sources

Doyle, Robert P. Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read. ALA. 2014.

"Dances and Dames" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Blubber by Judy Blume

in
Blubber
By Judy Blume

Bullies abound in Judy Blume's Blubber and on our top ten list of the best bullies in literature.

 

Banned

#43 on Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009

1980 - Maryland - Removed from Montgomery County elementary schools

1981 - Arizona - Banned temporarily from Sunizona

1983

Iowa - Challenged in Des Moines schools for "objectionable" subject matter

Ohio - Challenged at Xenia school libraries for undermining "authority since the word 'bitch' is used in connection with a teacher

Texas - Challenged at Smith Elementary School in Del Valle for the words "damn" and "bitch" and showed children cruelly teasing a classmate

1984

Illinois - Banned but later restricted to parental permission at Peoria School District libraries for sexual content. language, and lack of social and literary value

New Jersey - Restricted at Lindenwold elementary school libraries for language

Pennsylvania - Removed from Hanover School District elementary and secondary libraries but later placed on "restricted shelf" at middle school libraries for being "indecent and inappropriate"

Wyoming - Challenged at the Casper school libraries

1985 - Montana - Challenged as profane, immoral and offensive but retained at Bozeman school libraries

1986 - Wisconsin - Challenged at Muskego Elementary school for language and "taunting (of an overweight girl) is never punished for her cruelty"

1991 - Ohio - Challenged at the Perry Township elementry school libraries because "bad is never punished. Good never comes to the fore. Evil is triumphant"

1998 - Alabama - Banned in Clements High School in Athens for language, but was later reversed

1999 - Texas - Removed from an elementary school in Arlington because educators objected to "verbal, physical, and sexual abuse of student upon student"

Sources

Doyle, Robert P. Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read. "Blume, Judy - Blubber." 2014

Ala Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009

"Dances and Dames" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

in
The Catcher in the Rye
By J.D. Salinger

Advice and ghosts are in the library as well as the classic novel about a whiny jerk going out on the town and learning that life if full of hypocrisy, even himself.

Banned

1960 - Oklahoma - Teacher was fired in Tulsa from an 11th grade English position for assigning the book. Teacher appealed and was reinstated but the book was removed from the school

1963 - Ohio - Columbus parents asked the school board to ban the novel for being "anti-white" and "obscene." The school board refused.

1975 - Pennsylvania - Removed from reading list after parents complained about the language and content. The book was reinstated after the school board vote, orginally 5-4, was deemed illegal as they required a two-thirds vote in favor to remove a text.

1977 - New Jersey - Challenged and the board ruled the book could be read in an advanced placement class with parental permission.

1978 - Washington - Issaquah school removed it from their optional reading list

1979 - Michigan - Removed from the required reading list at Middleville.

1980 - Ohio - Removed from Jackson Milton school libraries in North Jackson

1982

Alabama - Removed from Anniston High School libraries and later reinstated

Manitoba, Canada - Removed from school libraries in Morris along with two other books as they violate committee's guidelines covering "excess vulgar language, sexual scenes, things  concerning moral issues, excessive violence, and anything dealing with the occult."

1983 - Montana - Challenged at Libby High School due to the book's contents

1985 - Florida - Banned from English classes at the Freeport High School in De Funiak Springs as being "unacceptable" and "obscene"

1986 - Wyoming - Removed from Medicine Bow senior high school English reading list because of profanity and sexual references

1987 - North Dakota - Banned from a required sophomore English reading list at Napoleon High School after parents and the local Knights of Columbus chapter complained of profanity and sexual references

1988 - Indiana - Challenged at the Linton-Stockton High School as being "blasphemous and undermines morality"

1989 - California - Muroc Joint Unified School District board in Boron High School removed the book from school reading lists after parents complain the novel was unsuitable because of profanity, blasphemy and promotion of anti-family values. Local resident and religious activist Patty Salazar said she supports the board action because the novel "doesn't belong in a public high school." "It uses the Lord's name in vain 200 times," she said. "That's enough reason to ban it right there. They say it describes reality. I say let's back up from reality. Let's go backwards. Let's go back to when we didn't have an immoral society."

1991 - Illinois - Challenged at Grayslake Community High School

1992

Illinois - Challenged at the Jamaica High School in Sidell for profanity, depiction of premarital sex, alcohol abuse, and prostitution

Iowa - Challenged at Waterloo schools for profanity, lurid passages about sex, and statements defamatory to minorities, God, women, and the disabled.

Florida - Challenged at Duval County public school libraries for profanity, lurid passages about sex, and statements defamatory to minorities, God, women, and the disabled.

Pennsylvania - Challenged at the Cumberland Valley High School after parent's objections of profanity and immorality.

1993 - California - Challenged and retained at Corona Norco Unified School district because it is "centered around negative activity."

1994

Wisconsin - Challenged but retained at the New Richmond High School for use in some English classes

New Hampshire - Challenged as mandatory reading in the Goffstown schools for language and sexual content

1995 - Florida - Challenged at the St. Johns County Schools

1996 - Maine - Parent challenged over the word "fuck" ("f" word) at teh Oxford Hills High School

1997

Georgia - Challenged but retained at the Glynn Academy High School in Brunswick after a student objected to profanity and sexual content.

California - Removed by school superintendent required reading curriculum of the Marysville Joint Unified School District  to get it "out of the way so that we didn't have that polarization over a book."

1999-2000 - Georgia - Vanned and reinstated after community protests at the Windsor Forest High School in Savannah after a parent complained about the sex, violence, and profanity

2000 - Alabama - Challenged but retained at the Limestone County school district after complaints of language

2001

South Carolina - Removed by a Dorchester District 2 school board member in Summerville because it "is a filthy, filthy book."

Georgia - Challenged by a school board member for language but retained in Glynn County

2005 – Maine - Challenged, but retained as an assigned reading in the Noble High School in North Berwick.

2009 – Montana - Challenged in the Big Sky high School in Missoula

2010 - Florida - Challenged but retained in the Martin School District after a parent's complaint for language

"Dances and Dames"

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/