On January 1, 2016, The Institute Of Contemporary History

The Catcher in the Rye. The Scarlet Letter. Huckleberry Finn. Harry Potter. The Diary of Anne Frank. Animal Farm. To Kill a Mockingbird. The Da Vinci Code. The Grapes of Wrath. These literary classics have been vital to the education of many, especially children and adolescents (Banned Books). These great novels both teach important values and educate children about world affairs and classic themes. Unfortunately, each of these novels has been banned at one point in time. In a country where freedom is so adamantly advocated, it is a wonder that an issue like censorship would even come up, that such a controversy would sink its claws into the minds of states’ boards of education across the nation.

The Eleventh Circuit Court held that if school board believes the books are too vulgar and sexually explicit for students which means that if any school curriculum regulations are ‘‘reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns” they can remove books from the curriculum. However, they decided to keep the book in the school library and allowed teachers and students to discuss the material during class discussions.

Levine, M. D. (1984). Reshelving the First Amendment: Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. PICO. Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, 17,

All around the world, certain books are being banned or challenged in school districts often because the material is considered sexually explicit, unsuited for the age group, or includes offensive language or actions.

Censors typically feel as though the subject material of controversial books in the high school English curriculum is too much for teenagers to handle (Shen, 2002).

Germans in the beginning of the Nazi era were campaigning to eliminate any signs of Jewish intellectualism or anti-socialist ideas within the public. This is eminent when the author states in the article “Book Burning” that, “German govt was trying to create support for the Nazi cause, by driving in the nazi ideas in social and cultural groups”(Book Burning, Holocaust

The practice of banning books in the United States is still present today. This essay looks to explore how Looking for Alaska by John Green has dealt with contemporary censorship issues. The novel was published in the year of 2005, and within the same year the teen book claimed the number one spot on a list of controversial books. To many people's surprise, the novel was even higher on the list than other known books such as Fifty Shades of Grey. So what making Looking for Alaska so bad to put it at the top? Is it the fact that the novel is descriptive and realistic of teenagers life? Reality needs to be known, it is reality that makes readers understand the dangers of things such as usage of alcohol. Although the novel Looking For Alaska by

Board of Education v. Pico is a Supreme Court case that was argued from March 2, 1892 to June 25, 1982 (Island Trees…). This case presents the issue of banning “vulgar and immoral” books from school libraries (Board of Education, Island).

The students spent a lot of time on the newspaper and were upset at the principal for taking the two articles out. They felt that censorship was a violation of their first amendment rights and they took the case to court. The Court disagreed with the students and said that if the school had a good reason to censor

"I believe that books challenge and interrogate. They give us windows into the lives of others and give us mirrors so that we can better see ourselves. Ultimately if you have a worldview that can be undone by a novel, let me submit that the problem is not with the novel," states bestselling author John Green. According to the ALA, books are banned or challenged in order to protect others from "difficult ideas and information." Some more specific reasons are that parents find these books inappropriate for containing anti-family views, homosexuality, offensive language and sexually explicit scenes or

Decision of the court: The Supreme Court ruled 5-3 in favor of the school, it reversed the decision of the Eight Circuit Court stating that the principal’s actions regarding the publication did not violate the students’ First Amendment right.

Censorship is not a new issue whatsoever; in fact, many books and movies have been censored before due to explicit material. One of the books that is consistently challenged is Of Mice and Men. Of Mice and Men, written by author John Steinbeck, discusses many subjects that parents deem are too inappropriate for students. This has lead to the novella being one of the most challenged books.

An upcoming issue in the paper was set to have articles pertaining to teen pregnancy and how kids responded to divorce. The principal then voiced concern because he believe the content was to mature for students and isolating for students that may be pregnant. He then removed the articles from the paper because of his disapproval. Three students then filed claims that their First Amendment rights were violated. The issue brought before the Court was whether the school had a right to censor the publications just for the fact that they disagree with the content (First,

An excellent example of a book in question containing sexual content is The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier, which ranked number 5 on the ACLU's list. Now considering the fact that this frequently banned book is written for young adults of middle and high school age, I'm sure the author included this content, and the often graphic language associated with such content, because it made the book more realistic and possibly because it made the novel more appealing to the age bracket. Fiction is not the only genre faced with banning and censorship. Educational books such as the sex education text It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris and The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsmanare under attack because they discuss sex-related topics. All I have to say about this is sexuality is a fact of life, not some forbidden subject.

Over the course of several decades more than eleven thousand three hundred books have been challenged to be banned because of the topics being discussed. The 1970 novel, The Bluest Eye, written by none other than Ms.Toni Morrison was banned and degraded due to the unsociable topics within the novel. However many readers thought the novel was analytically and profoundly written; consisting of an abundance of figurative language, life lessons, and suspenseful events. During the 1970’s topics such as rape, molestation, prostitution, physical and mental abuse was happening to people within the United States. Some people deliberately chose to act as if these horrific problems weren’t happening because of the high status of this country.