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Dec 7 • 10 tweets • 6 min read
Well, it happened. Someone banned a Berenstain Bears book... Image
It's just 1 of a whopping 176 titles that were ordered out of classrooms in a Florida district. The books were part of a large collection to add diverse & inclusive literature to classrooms. They were ordered off shelves in January for extra "review"...
The list is a breathtaking array of books celebrating the diversity of human identities, cultures, traditions -- books historically not available in schools. The collection was banned wholesale in a multi-racial district! Books by 100+ authors incl @Lupita_Nyongo @LindaSuePark ImageImage
This is one of the more insidious forms of book banning-- where no books are publicly challenged & removal is not publicly justified.

A long list is banned wholesale, raising questions about whether anyone even looked at the books they were prohibiting. pen.org/banned-books-f…
Yesterday we @PENamerica along with @diversebooks sent a letter to the district, Duval County, asking for the books to be returned or for a public review timeline to be committed to. We were joined by 70+ of the authors and illustrators banned. pen.org/press-release/…
Authors @ellenoh @LindaSuePark and Ami Polonsky went to the school board meeting last night to deliver the letter and join with local parents demanding their children have access to the books in the collection.
Lots of ppl will look at this list of books and ask how these particular titles could be controversial? Unsettling reality is that no one necessarily objected to any of them. Nonetheless they've been in storage for 10 months... b/c that's what's happening with the #EdScare.
For all the school districts that are facing challenges to specific titles, there are districts pulling books en masse into storage, without anyone even challenging them. This is what happened this fall in Owasso, Oklahoma to over 3,000 graphic novels! vice.com/en/article/g5v…
This serves as a good reminder why districts have POLICIES and PROCESSES for objecting to school materials and why they should follow them. Rather than suspending access to anything anyone even remotely complains about or thinks *might* be controversial. bookriot.com/duval-county-p…
Join us @PENamerica on calling on Duval Schools to #FreeTheBooks! pen.org/free-the-books/

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More from @jonfreadom

Jonathan Friedman 📚 Profile picture
Dec 15
You may be surprised to learn that books by @MargaretAtwood @jodipicoult @judyblume @kellyyanghk @johngreen are being determined to have "no serious literary value for minors" in Utah schools.

Latest crop of 44 banned books hinges on that assessment 🧵
stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2… ImageImage
Yes, under Utah's new "sensitive materials" law, librarians are being pressured to ban books that include any of a wide range of sexual content, if -- and, this is key -- if the district determines a book has "no serious value for minors."
Here's the list of 44 being banned in Washington County. Many are widely recognized, popular, award-winning literary works. They're being determined to have "no serious value for minors" to appease the vocal activists who want books w/ sex of any kind banned. ImageImage
Read 7 tweets
Jonathan Friedman 📚 Profile picture
Dec 13
Banned book of the day is "And Tango Makes Three" by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell.

With its true story of 2 male penguins raising a baby, it's been targeted for years. But we @PENamerica are seeing an uptick in efforts to ban it across FL... #FreeTheBooks Image
In Lake County. the district banned the book specifically b/c of the "Don't Say Gay" law. Note: the law bans "classroom instruction" on gender and sexuality, not library books. No matter. 🤷‍♂️ h/t @FLFreedomRead
In Escambia, FL, Tango was one of 100+ books challenged by a teacher, which resulted in it going on backroom shelves for a time and requiring a parental permission slip. The objection? "LGBTQ agenda using penguins", and some key excerpts:
🐧🏳️‍🌈🐧 pnj.com/story/news/loc… ImageImage
Read 9 tweets
Jonathan Friedman 📚 Profile picture
Dec 5
In Escambia, Florida, someone is trying to ban this children's book about Wilma Rudolph, the African-American sprinter who set world records in running and won gold medals at the 1960 Olympics.

What's so "controversial" about it?...
The teacher who filed the complaint-- which led to the book being restricted to back rooms and requiring specific parental permission for a student to even see it -- zeroed in on these 2 pages as allegedly breaking new Florida education laws, incl the Stop WOKE act.
The book is no longer restricted, but still "under review."

This is an encapsulation of the kinds of stories, histories being targeted for banning all over... In fact, someone tried to ban the same book in Prosper ISD, Texas earlier this year 👇👇👇
Read 7 tweets
Jonathan Friedman 📚 Profile picture
Nov 22
Book banning is not just people showing up to school boards anymore. 🧵

In numerous states, new fronts are emerging-- state laws instilling fear in schools, or proposals to wholly defund public libraries.
E.g. New law in UT, HB 374, leading to bans 👇 ksl.com/article/505196…
Similar story in MO, with SB 775, that we @PENamerica called attention to last week. Fear of reprisal--and criminal punishment--led to an astonishing array of book bans. We found at least 300 or so, but that's a minimum count. pen.org/spiegelman-atw…
In TN, a state-appointed commission is setting new guidelines for books in schools. The body will soon be able to issue book bans; as any decision on the suitability of any single book in any single school will apply state-wide. So much for local control?
tennessean.com/story/news/pol…
Read 8 tweets
Jonathan Friedman 📚 Profile picture
Nov 13
In the race for most draconian school district, Keller ISD in TX is leading. They vote tomorrow on a policy that would ban books with "gender fluidity". This is the district that prev. banned The Bible, graphic adap. of Diary of Anne Frank, among others... dallasnews.com/opinion/commen…
The policy would ban books w/ "discussion or depiction" of gender fluidity or which "espouses the view that gender is merely a social construct" from ALL schools. Would surely be interpreted widely against LGBTQ. They want to close minds to the real world.
More background on the district... 👀

nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna4…
Read 4 tweets
Jonathan Friedman 📚 Profile picture
Nov 7
A school board immediately revokes access to a long list of books in response to a thinly-supported objection, usually from 1 person.

Board members don't:
❎ read the books
❎ follow policies
❎ say how long these removals will last

It's called book banning.
📚📚📚🧵
Boards say all the time books are just 'under review'. That's what a board member said last week in Beaufort, SC, where they've recently removed access to 99 books based on a single complaint.
In Duval in FL, board says 176 books are just "under review"... since January. There was no official challenge. District ordered the books removed from classrooms. The books are about non-white and LGBTQ+ identities. Teachers and students can't use them.
bookriot.com/duval-county-p… ImageImage
Read 5 tweets

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