Welcome to Check Your Shelf. I’m compiling this newsletter on May 1st, which is also the 25th anniversary of Spongebob (talk about feeling old)! My sister and I have already engaged in a lengthy debate about the ranked episodes in the article, and boy do I have some THOUGHTS.
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Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
The FCC voted to restore net neutrality rules.
Cool Library Updates
The Milwaukee Public Library has been nominated for a Peabody Award for its work on social media.
USA Today has a profile on Mychal Threets.
Book Adaptations in the News
Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian is being adapted for film.
Elliot Page’s production company is adapting Eliot Schrefer’s YA sci-fi novel, The Darkness Outside Us.
Censorship News
How to fight book bans in 2024.
A middle school banned book club makes good trouble on a national scale.
Amarillo ISD (TX) recently canceled their partnership with Storybridge, a program that provides free access to children’s books for families in low-income areas. The reason? A parent complained because one of the books given away featured a family with two dads, so the district ended the program.
Fort Worth ISD (TX) is returning some banned books to library shelves after over 100 books were initially pulled by the district for review. How many are being returned? Unclear. And amidst these challenges and school district budget cuts, eight Fort Worth ISD schools will lose their full-time librarians.
A college student at the University of Florida challenged two books in Alachua County (FL) schools, but the district needs to determine if this student meets the residency requirements for filing a challenge in the first place.
The Cumberland Valley School Board (PA) voted to reinstate Maulik Pancholy’s author visit, which was canceled after parents and trustees complained about the author’s “lifestyle.” (Pancholy is gay.) My friends in reading, it is 2024. Why is this even still a thing?
Maryland’s Freedom to Read Act was signed into law. “The act requires local school officials to manage library programs and not exclude or remove materials “because of partisan, ideological, or religious disapproval.” Meanwhile, Carroll County commissioners want to withhold funding for the public library because the staff supported the Freedom to Read Act.
The Rockingham County School Board (VA) apparently has two different review policies depending on whether or not the book is being challenged for sexually explicit content.
Cobb County School District (GA) removed four more books for containing “lewd, vulgar and sexually graphic content.”
Georgia is stopping a bookstore from sending books to prisons.
“The Alabama House approved HB385 Thursday, which would allow for the prosecution of librarians who fail to remove the challenged materials in a timely manner.” They also approved HB130, which would prohibit teachers from teaching about gender ideology in 6th – 8th grades.
Twenty-six books have been banned this year in Rutherford County Schools (TN).
A group of right-wing Catholics showed up to pray the rosary over offensive books at the Mercer County (OH) Public Library.
“The school district’s plan to offer an optional class for some first graders at Schavey Road Elementary School on the use of pronouns by individuals drew backlash, enough that by Friday the district had reversed course and canceled the plan announced to parents in an April 11 letter.” This is in Michigan, and again, the chief word here is optional.
Dragon Ball Z has been challenged at the Eau Claire School District (WI) for nudity and sexualized content.
A pastor vows to fight Satan’s influence at the local library. (This is part of the ongoing coverage in Metropolis, IL.)
A school board member in the Anoka-Hennepin School District (MN) is threatening a budget standoff if the district doesn’t scrap its plans for programs aimed at racial and gender equity. This is apparently considered the “spreading of divisive, one-sided views.”
“American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE), the free expression initiative of the American Booksellers Association, has filed an amicus brief in support of two lawsuits that challenge parts of Iowa’s “Don’t Say Gay” and book banning law.”
The Campbell County Public Library (WY) will allow two of its staff members to attend an online ALA course, despite the library cutting ties with ALA over a year ago. Yes, this is what counts as news now.
Colorado lawmakers make a second attempt at curbing book bans in public libraries.
“The law states that any parents or child, whether they’re a resident of Idaho or not, can complain about a book they deem to be inappropriate for their child’s age group…After receiving the complaint the library has 30 days to relocate that book to an adults-only area, if not they will have a monetary penalty.” This is the legislation that Idaho governor Brad Little recently signed, where apparently anyone can issue a challenge and libraries are forced to comply.
The Washoe County Library (NV) “rejects book bans pushed by conservative activists.”
Seaside Public Library (OR) is dealing with city councilors who are eager to ban books and who offer solutions like allowing parents to restrict their kids from entire sections of the library. I’m guessing that none of them have thought about how a restriction like that would be enforced.
“California lawmakers recently voted down a bill requiring school boards to ban books with “harmful material” from libraries and classrooms, legislation that would have given parents the ability to sue those that did not comply.”
Books & Authors in the News
Author Paul Auster has died at 77.
Dracula Daily starts again on May 3rd.
Numbers & Trends
Farshore and HarperCollins Children’s Books released a report on children’s reading habits and trends.
The most-read books on Goodreads this week.
The best-selling books of the week.
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
Fall in love with Charlotte’s (NC) romance book store on wheels.
On the Riot
Adaptation roundup for May 2024.
In celebration of my parents’ new cat having full reign of the house, I present this photo of Oliver, who managed to cram himself in between the window pane and the screen. My mom thought for a second he had somehow snuck outside.
Well, I’m off to watch some Spongebob. Hope everyone has a good weekend!
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.