"When I do not want to say things in real life I often say them here." — Mimi Smartypants
Reviews of subversive literature
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic column featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. YCRT! News A federal judge has ruled that Arizona’s ban on ethnic studies classes (and the associated wholesale banning of books in the Tucson Unified School District) was motivated by racial discrimination, a potentially lethal blow to the ban. I say “potentially” because as […]
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. YCRT! News A public library in Lexington Park, Maryland, observed Banned Books Week with a display of 34 banned and challenged books, covering each book with brown lunch bags labeled “Do Not Read This. Lift to see the banned book, you rebel, […]
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. Many schools and school districts in the United States have adopted procedures to follow when parents or community members demand the removal of books from classrooms, school libraries, and reading lists. Challenged books are reviewed by committees, which recommend retention, removal, […]
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. Every year, during the lead-up to Banned Books Week, my newsfeed floods with stories of library read-ins, exhibits, and scavenger hunts for banned books. The normal flow of stories about actual book bannings, parental challenges to books, and censorship dries to a trickle. Why, it’s almost […]
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. YCTR! News From a “love letter” to librarians: I imagine librarians are also working on their Banned Books displays now. Banned Books Week is set for Sept. 24-30, celebrating our freedom to read and to seek and express ideas. My […]
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie will stay part of the ninth-grade English curriculum in Sauk Prairie, Wisconsin. Schlump: The tragic story behind a forgotten masterpiece, a fascinating bit of history about one of many […]
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. “Parthenon” made of banned books built at site of Nazi book burning: YCRT! News In 2012 YCRT! featured a story about the banning of books by the Tucson Unified School District, an infamous incident that exposed Arizona to national and international ridicule. […]
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. YCRT! News Colorado school district pulls library copies of “Thirteen Reasons Why” over concerns it sensationalizes suicide, later reinstates the book. This article, from the American Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Blog, celebrates public library programs (in San Francisco, New York […]