Censorship Watch banner

Under Fire, Missouri Board Revisits Book Bans

Posted: Aug. 24, 2011.

The Missouri school board that banned Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and Sarah Ockler’s Twenty Boy Summer from the Republic High School library and curriculum says it will reconsider its decision next month.

Sherlock Holmes Novel Vanishes from Virginia Reading List

Posted: Aug. 16, 2011.
1887 publication of A Study in Scarlet

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet, was removed from 6th-grade reading lists in Albemarle County, Virginia, August 11 after a parent complained about its anti-Mormon content.

Vonnegut Library Fights Slaughterhouse-Five Ban with Giveaways

Posted: Aug. 9, 2011.
Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library

In response to a Missouri school board’s order to ban Slaughterhouse-Five from the Republic High School library and curriculum, the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library in Indianapolis will offer a free copy of the book to the first 150 of the school’s stud

Go the F**k to Spam

Posted: Aug. 9, 2011.
Cover of Go the Fuck to Sleep

When technology and literature collide: George Williams, media relations manager for the District of Columbia Public Library, shared the following anecdote with American Libraries:

So It Goes: Missouri High School Bans Slaughterhouse-Five

Posted: Aug. 3, 2011.
Cover of Slaughterhouse-Five

Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and Sarah Ockler’s young adult novel Twenty Boy Summer have been banned from a Missouri high school curriculum and library after a local resident complained that they teach principles contrary to the Bible.

No R’s Behind Bars in California

Posted: Jul. 26, 2011.
Saturday Night Fever—banned from California prisons

A federal court has ruled that a California Department of Corrections policy prohibiting inmates from viewing R-rated movies, as well as movies that “glorify violence or sex,” does not violate the First Amendment.

Richland Schools Rescind Ban of Sherman Alexie Novel

Posted: Jul. 18, 2011.
Cover of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The board of the Richland (Wash.) School District reversed its ban on Sherman Alexie’s Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. The July 11 4–1 vote to put the young adult novel about a Native American teen back onto the district’s reading lists rescinded a 3–2 decision June 14 to remove it.

Don’t Say Poo-Poo Heads

Posted: Jul. 13, 2011.
Cover of The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby

The parents of a 6-year-old who attends Channelview (Tex.) Independent School District’s Brown Elementary School has persuaded the school board to order removed from school-library shelves Dav Pilkey’s The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby.

Court Voids Alaska "Harmful to Minors" Internet Statute

Posted: Jul. 1, 2011.

The Federal District Court in Anchorage has permanently barred enforcement of an Alaska statute criminalizing the online posting of sexual imagery that is “harmful to minors,” stating that it threatened to reduce all speech on the internet “to only what is fit for children.”

Filtering Companies Unblock LGBT Sites in Response to ACLU Campaign

Posted: Jun. 21, 2011.

Web-filtering software companies have responded swiftly to the American Civil Liberties Union’s “Don’t Filter Me” campaign, which