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Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English. Hillel Italie reported this story for The Associated Press. In February, they announced the book would again be available, explaining they had needed to examine it and make sure it did not violate any state laws. It is a children’s book about of the late baseball star from Puerto Rico. Officials at Florida’s Duval County Public Schools were widely criticized after they removed Roberto Clemente: The Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Books removed in Florida include John Green’s Looking for Alaska, Colleen Hoover’s Hopeless, and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.ĭeSantis has called reports of mass bannings a “ hoax.” He said earlier this month that some people “are attempting to use our schools for indoctrination.” In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis has approved laws to review reading materials and limit classroom discussion of gender identity and race. But she says the majority of requests for removal are for works with LGBTIQA+ or racial themes.īills easing the restriction of books have been proposed or passed in Arizona, Iowa, Texas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, among other states. Librarians around the country have told of being harassed and threatened with violence or legal action.Ĭaldwell-Stone says that some books have been targeted because of racist language. The ALA bases its findings on media accounts and voluntary reporting from libraries.
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In many cases, hundreds of books were challenged in a single request. Last year, more than 2,500 different books were objected to, compared to 1,858 in 2021 and just 566 in 2019. Their goal is “unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.” Now, the requests are often for several removals, and organized by national groups such as Moms for Liberty. A few years ago, challenges were usually from parents and community members concerned about an individual book, the ALA says. The report also says the way restrictions are requested has changed. She said the last two years have been frightening, tiring, and angering. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who directs the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. The ALA began collecting the data 20 years ago. That is almost double the number from the year before, and it had also been record setting.
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The report says there were 1,200 known challenges in 2022. It found attempted book bans and information restrictions at school and public libraries continue to increase, setting a record in 2022. The American Library Association (ALA) released a new report Thursday about book banning in the country.
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