Kerlan Collection

Internet links:

The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000. American Library Association.

American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. Updates on news about censorship and intellectual freedom.

American Library Association. Intellectual freedom basics, the Library Bill of Rights, dealing with challenges to library materials.

First Amendment Center. Information about the First Amendment, including a public survey on First Amendment rights, a Supreme Court case tracker, a First Amendment timeline, a bibliography of material on the First Amendment, Congressional Research Service reports for Congress on First Amendment topics and lesson plans for teaching about the First Amendment.

First Amendment First Aid Kit. Random House Children's Books provides strategies for dealing with challenges in schools and libraries, a list of organizations that an help deal with censorship attempts, author responses to censorship, and discussion questions to use when talking to students about censored books. Download a printable

First Amendment Future. Information about a nationwide survey on how high school students view the First Amendment.

First Amendment Schools. Lesson plans for teaching about the First Amendment.

Free Expression Network. An "alliance of organizations dedicated to preserving the right to free expression." Includes links to organizations in the network, information about court cases, legislation, and current news about intellectual freedom.

KidSpeak. A free organization that allows children and teens to speak out against censorship.

Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association. Information about books that have been "banned or challenged from 387 B.C.E. to the present", including those challenged during the current year.

National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC). Information on the latest incidents of censorship in the United States; school censorship issues; freedom of expression in books and print media, art, theater and film, television, education, public speech and religion.

National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Anti-censorship Center. Censorship challenge reports and resources for dealing with challenges in the classroom.

Documents:

The ALA Freedom to Read Statement. American Library Association.

Bibliography of Books Banned or Challenged in 2003-2004. American Library Association.

First Amendment First Aid Kit Brochure. A downloadable brochure that explains what to do if you are faced with a challenge and it includes a section on what authors have to say about censorship.

How to Write a Rationale. National Council of Teachers of English.

Intellectual Freedom and Censorship Questions and Answers. American Library Association.

Articles on Censorship and Challenges Others Have Faced:

Agee, Jane. (November 1999).  "There It Was, That One Sex Scene": English Teachers on Censorship. The English Journal, 61-69.

~ The effects censorship has on teachers' willingness to take risks in text selection

Brown, Jean E. (Spring 2000).  Creating a Censorship Simulation. ALAN Review, 27-30.

~ The author describes a censorship simulation she uses, in her graduate level course, to provide her students with a realistic experience with censorship

Broz, William J. (February 2002).  Defending Am I Blue. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 340-350.

~ An English professor discusses a challenge to Marion Dane Bauer's Am I Blue in his local school district and his own response to it

Cronin, Blaise. (February 15, 2003).  Burned Any Good Books Lately? Library Journal, 48.

~ Book burning incidents in the United States in 2001 - 2002, and the effect book burning has on anti-censorship sentiments

Donelson, Ken. (February 1997).  "Filth" and "Pure Filth" in Our Schools--Censorship of Classroom Books in the Last Ten Years. English Journal, 21-25.

~ Censorship in the classroom between 1986 and 1996

Freedman, Lauren & Johnson, Holly. (December 2000/January 2001). Who's Protecting Whom? I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This, a Case in Point Confronting Self-censorship in the Choice of Young Adult Literature. The Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 356-369.

~ The authors discuss the problems with teacher self-censorship in classroom book selection

Greenbaum, Vicky. (February 1997). Censorship and the Myth of Appropriateness: Reflections on Teaching Reading in High School. The English Journal, 16-20.

~ The author believes teachers should reexamine their concept of what is "appropriate" when selecting classroom texts

Kastner, Alison & Allen, Ruth. (December 1, 2002). Feasting on Forbidden Fruit: How to Talk to Teens About Censorship. Teacher Librarian, 18-20.

~ An overview of a program on censorship, produced by the Multnomah County Library System, for classroom use and ideas on how to create a similar program in any classroom

Lacks, Cissy. (February 1997). The Teacher's Nightmare: Getting Fired for Good Teaching. English Journal, 29-33.

~ Lacks relates the incidents that led to her dimissal because her students wrote and performed scripts that contained "street language".

Noll, Elizabeth. (December 1994). The Ripple Effect of Censorship: Silencing in the Classroom. English Journal, 59-64.

~ Noll discusses the effect that classroom challenges have on book selection and self-censorship by teachers

Pavonetti, Linda M. (Spring 2002). It Seems Important that We Should Have the Right to Read... The Journal of Children's Literature, 9-15.

~ The author recounts the speeches, on censorship and intellectual freedom, given by Ginny Moore Kruse and Lois Lowry to the NCTE annual convention in Baltimore on November 17, 2001

Rossuck, Jennifer. (February 1997). Banned Books : A Study of Censorship. The English Journal, 67-70.

~ A high school teacher discusses her unit on censorship

Salvner, Gary M. (Winter 1998). A War of Words: Lessons from a Censorship Case. ALAN Review, 45-49.

~ An English festival is disrupted with a challenge about the use of John Marsden's Letters from the Inside

Suhor, Charles. (February 1997). Censorship--When Things Get Hazy. The English Journal, 26-28.

~ The author examines classroom challenges and mistakes teachers make when planning courses

Tigner-Rasanen, Mary. (January 2001). Meeting a Censorship Challenge. The English Journal, 126-129.

~ The author describes a challenge of Walter Dean Myers' Scorpions and Robert Cormier's The Choocolate War at the Rochester, Minnesota middle school where she teaches

Zeeman, Kenneth. (February 1997). Grappling with Grendel or What We Did When the Censors Came. The English Journal, 46-49.

~ How a school in Vermont dealt with a parent's challenge to John Gardner's Grendel