News

Glen Ellyn School District 41 removes Perks of Being a Wallflower from 8th grade curriculum (April 2013)
Following a parental request to have The Perks of Being a Wallflower, optional reading for 8th grade English classes, removed from the curriculum, a committee met to research the book and its reception and decide whether it was suitable for eighth grade. The book deals with a high school freshman's struggles to deal with relationships and his friend's suicide. The student's parents objected specifically to the book's treatment of sexuality, including homosexuality, a fake coupon for free oral sex, and a passing reference to bestiality. Read more >>

Chicago Public Schools remove Persepolis from 7th-grade curriculum (March 2013)
In response to the language and torture depicted in Persepolis, about a fiercely independent girl growing up with wealthy, well-educated secular parents in fundamentalist Iran, Chicago Public Schools officials instructed their schools to remove the book from their classrooms, curricula, and libraries, and to make sure it hadn't been checked out by students or staff. Read more >>

Hill Middle School Removes The Gun, One Fine Day You're Gonna Die from the library (January 2013)
After a parent complained about the violence in two books that her son had checked out from his school's library--The Gun, by Paul Langan, and One Fine Day You're Gonna Die, by Gail Bowen, both books intended for reluctant readers--the school's principal apologized to the mother and removed the books from the school's library, stating that the books were intended for high school students. Read more >>

Brentwood removes Uncle Bobby's Wedding from the shelves, returns it after review (October 2012)
After the father of a young girl found Uncle Bobby's Wedding--a picture book about a young guinea pig worried about her relationship with her uncle, who is marrying another male guinea pig--in the stack of books his daughter wanted to check out, the man demanded that the library remove the book from its shelves. Read more >>

Greenville County Library removes Neonomicon from shelves (June 2012)
After a 14-year-old girl asked her mother about some of the content in Neonomicon, Alan Moore's take on Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, the girl's mother complained to the Greenville County library about the book. Read more >>

Sumner County Board of Education removes Looking for Alaska from high school reading lists (May 2012)
Following complaints from a parent who skimmed the novel Looking for Alaska, which was assigned reading in a high school English class, and then complained that the book was too explicit for students, the Sumner County Board of Education reviewed the book and decided to remove it from reading lists. Read more >>

Brevard County Public Libraries remove all copies of Fifty Shades of Grey, return them after controversy (May 2012)
Some time after purchasing nearly 20 copies of the bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey, the Brevard County public libraries removed the book from their collection, stating that it was pornography and they don't collect porn. Read more >>

Davis School District restricts access to In Our Mothers' House, lifts restriction after lawsuit is filed (May 2012)
After parents complained in January 2012 that their child had checked out the picture book In Our Mothers' House, about two lesbian parents and their three children, the school formed a committee to address the complaint. Read more >>

Erie School District removes The Family Book (May 2012)
Following a complaint about The Family Book, a picture book about all sorts of families which contains the text "some families have two moms or two dads," the school formed a committee to assess the book's fitness for the elementary school library. Read more >>

Annville-Cleona School Board removes The Dirty Cowboy from all elementary schools (April 2012)
The picture book The Dirty Cowboy is a tall tale about a cowboy who instructs his dog not to let anyone else near his clothes when he takes his annual bath, and then finds that his dog doesn't recognize him once he's clean. Read more >>