You Can’t Read That!

You Can’t Read That! is a periodic roundup of news about banned and challenged books. Arizona: Last month I wrote about various groups planning to make banned Mexican American studies books available to Tucson area students. Since then I’ve been receiving daily updates on one such group, the Librotraficante Caravan … so many updates that […]

You Can’t Read That!

You Can’t Read That! is a periodic roundup of news about banned and challenged books. I thought this article about the still-widespread opposition to ebooks was interesting, particularly this paragraph: Add to that the e-book’s ease of transport, its international vocation (could the Iron Curtain have kept out e-books?), its indestructibility (you can’t burn e-books), […]

You Can’t Read That!

You Can’t Read That! is a periodic roundup of news about banned and challenged books. Right on the heels of the racially-motivated confiscation and banning of textbooks in Tucson schools (see my previous posts, here and here) comes SB 1467, a bill before the Arizona state legislature that will require teachers to limit their speech […]

You Can’t Read That!

You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring news about banned and challenged books. My local school district in Tucson, Arizona is at the center of a growing national and international scandal over the racially-motivated confiscation and banning of textbooks, novels, and plays.  I wrote about the district’s actions here and here.  To reach […]

You Can’t Read That! Fahrenheit 451 in Tucson, Continued

Two days ago I wrote about the cancellation of Mexican American and Native American Studies classes in Tucson high schools, and the large-scale book banning that followed. Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) officials confiscated books and other materials used in the cancelled classes, boxed them, and shipped them to a storage facility.  Local, national, and […]

You Can’t Read That! Arizona Temperature Soars to Fahrenheit 451

In May 2010 Arizona banned the teaching of ethnic studies in the state’s public school classrooms, specifically targeting Mexican-American and Native American studies. The new law forbid elementary and secondary schools to conduct classes “designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group” or that advocated “the overthrow of the United States government” and “resentment […]

You Can’t Read That!

You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring news about banned and challenged books. “What is the criteria for banning a book? Who gets to make that decision? Is it one person’s opinion? Everyone sees things differently; where will it stop?”  Ignoring district procedures for making decisions about restricting student access to books, school superintendent […]

You Can’t Read That!

You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring news about banned and challenged books. Zen Buddhism: Selected Writings was challenged in Canton, Michigan in 1987 on the grounds that the book “details the teachings of the religion of Buddhism in such a way that the reader could very likely embrace its teachings and choose […]