Challenged Materials: A Primer on How to Respond

image001-thumb2With Banned Books Week com­ing to a close, we in the YA com­mu­nity are watch­ing in dis­may as teach­ers and libraries are fac­ing repeated–and some­times, harassing–attempts to remove YA books from the shelves and the cur­ricu­lum. Many folks have added their voices to the fight, and oth­ers, although they would like to help, are not sure what to say or to whom to say it.

Last sum­mer, I dis­cov­ered a let­ter on librar­ian James LaRue’s blog. Mr. LaRue had writ­ten the let­ter in response to a chal­lenge of one of the books in the library’s col­lec­tion. It is mas­ter­ful, the per­fect exam­ple of how to respond to a chal­lenge in a rea­soned and com­pas­sion­ate way, while remain­ing firm to the prin­ci­ples that guide both his library and this nation.

If you are think­ing of respond­ing to a chal­lenge or are just curi­ous about what all this Banned Books stuff is about, please take a moment to read: http://jaslarue.blogspot.com/2008/07/uncle-bobbys-wedding.html

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