Censoring Children's Books

Several organizations have sprung up in response to concerns about censorship of children's books. When the Harry Potter books came under attack, a number of organizations joined together to establish Muggles for Harry Potter, which is now known as kidSPEAK and focuses on being a voice for kids in fighting censorship in general. KidSPEAK stresses, "Kids have First Amendment rights—and kidSPEAK helps kids fight for them!"

Parents Against Bad Books in Schools
PABBIS (Parents Against Bad Books in Schools), is just one of a number of parent groups around the country challenging children's and young adult books in classroom teaching, and in school and public libraries. These parents go beyond wanting to restrict access to certain books for their own children; they seek to restrict access for other parents' children as well by getting one or more books removed from the library shelves or having access to the books restricted in some way.

What Do You Think?
According to article Public Libraries and Intellectual Freedom on the American Library Association Web site,

"It is appropriate for parents to guide their children’s reading, television viewing, and exposure to media as they see fit. The public library can assist in this process by providing reader’s advisory services, booklists, and other related services in a positive, pro-active manner. What they library should not do is act in loco parentis — in the place of the parents — either by limiting access to materials or services solely on the basis of the user’s age or by attempting to enforce parentally dictated controls."


See All About Book Banning and Children's Books for more of my articles about the subject.