A survey of challenged and banned books in Washington school libraries and classrooms

 

AccessNorthwest, Washington State University

 

Feb. 10, 2005

 

            Sex, profanity and religion are the most common reasons parents challenge books in school libraries and classrooms in Washington state, according to a study conducted by AccessNorthwest, a research group within the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication at Washington State University.

            A survey of 185 school districts in Washington state identified the prevalence and reasons for book challenges during the past two school years. During the two-year period, 2002-03 and 2003-04, parents and other community members challenged 34 books in 22 districts, and of those books, 11 were restricted and five were banned. The study was conducted by AccessNorthwest at Washington State University, which conducts research regarding citizen access to information.

Summary

Out of 296 school districts in the state, 185 (62.5%) participated in the survey during summer and fall of 2004, responding either by phone, fax, mail, or email. Of those responses, there were 34 challenges to books or materials in 22 districts with 11 challenges resulting in materials being restricted and five banned during the 2002-03 and 2003-04 school years. Banned books are those that are physically removed from the library or classroom. Restricted books remain but can not be accessed by all students or not freely available on the shelves. The challenges could be handled formally or informally.

            The survey showed that roughly 67% of the time if a book was challenged within a district it was retained without further restriction. However, of the cases where action was taken by the school district the book had a 50% chance of being banned.

Only one book was challenged more than once. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain was challenged for language (profanity and racial slurs) in the Easton, Tacoma and Renton school districts. The Tacoma School District restricted use of the book, and the other two districts continued to allow its use in the classroom.

Types of challenged books

            The school districts were asked to categorize the reason given by those raising the challenges to identify subjects raising the most concern in Washington.

Subject

Number of Challenges

Profanity/racial slurs

11

Religion

9

Sexual content

7

Age Inappropriate and Other

5

Violence

2

 

The types of challenges to books that resulted in the book being banned is of interest because it can be measured against similar surveys to see how content concerns have changed over time or differ in different areas of the country.

Five books were banned in the state during the two-year period, three of them in one district, in Northport, north of Spokane. Parents in the Northport School District expressed concern about inappropriate language and sexual content in three poetry books: “Do You Hear Me?” and  “Things I Have To Tell You,” edited by Betsy Franco-Feeney and “Paint Me Like I Am” by WritersCorps.  Each book is a compilation of poetry written by teens discussing issues faced by adolescence.  The district decided that the books were too inappropriate and banned all three from their libraries district wide.

  Sexual content and profanity were commonly cited reasons for challenges. Four books resulted in district wide library bans due to sexual content and profanity, while one book was banned from use in a ninth grade classroom also for its sexual content and profanity.

Religion – usually content viewed as anti-Christian – also was often cited in challenges, including for one book that was banned. Of the books that were challenged on religious grounds, the majority were seen to be anti-Christian because of content that included the occult or witchcraft, such as the Harry Potter series. However, in one instance, Tukwila Muslim students challenged “The Inferno” by Dante Alighieri because of the Christian doctrine contained in the book and reference to Mohammed being in hell. They feared that the book would fuel more hatred toward Muslim students after September 11, 2001. After a review, the district decided to keep the book.

Book challenges were about evenly split between the east side and west side of the state. However, when population is accounted for, the east side only accounts for 22% of the state’s population but half of all book challenges. It appears from this study that parents in eastern Washington are more likely to challenge books than those on the west side.

Elementary schools in Spokane faced the most frequent book challenges – four in all. Parents of Spokane elementary school students said the sexual, violent, frightening and evolution-related content in four books made the material unsuitable for school curriculum or libraries.

         The Bethel School District and Northport School District were the only other districts in the state to have more than two challenges.  They each had three. Bethel parents expressed concern over one book, “Nightjohn” by Gary Paulsen and two book series: JK Rowling’s Harry Potter Series and The EMC Literature Series.  Parents felt that “Nightjohn” contained graphic material that was too mature for young readers, while the book series each encouraged witchcraft, disrespect of adults, and conveyed religion inappropriately.

Several of the books that received challenges in Washington state also have been challenged elsewhere in the country, including several titles that are on the American Library Association’s top 100 most challenged books. However, what is interesting about the results of this survey is that none of the titles that were banned are on the ALA’s list, meaning that although Washington state school administrators’ and parents’  have similar concerns as their counterparts in other parts of the country they also are unique in the choices they make.  Three of the books were banned in one district and each of the books contained poetry written by children.  The poetry dealt with issues of growing up and adolescence but the school district felt that the books contained too much sexuality and violence to make them appropriate for their students.  These issues were mirrored in several of the books that were challenged in the state but the poetry was banned over any of the other novels containing similar content.
    

List of challenged books

      The following is a list of titles and authors of books that were challenged in Washington State in the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 school years.   (Those with * indicate books that were restricted and ** indicate books that were banned)

Title                                                    Author                                     District                       

* Snow Falling on Cedars                                   David Guterson                                                    Peninsula

* Prayer for Owen Meany                                  John Irving                                                            Peninsula

* Grendel.                                                              John Gardner                                                        Peninsula

* Brain Gym                                                          Paul E. Dennison & Gail E Dennison                Tekoa

* Fallen Angels                                                    Walter Dean Meyers                                           Eastmont

** Do You Hear Me?,                                         Betsy Franco-Feeney (Editor)                            Northport

                                                                                Nina Nickles (Photographer)                             

** Paint Me Like I Am                                        WritersCorps                                                        Northport

** Things I Have To Tell You                           Betsy Franco-Feeney (Editor)                            Northport

                                                                                Nina Nickles (Photographer)

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings                   Maya Angelou                                                     Mary Walker

* Balzac & the Little Chinese Seamstress        Dai Sijie                                                                  Federal Way

* The Face on the Milk Carton                          Caroline B. Cooney                                              Federal Way

Give a Boy a Gun                                                 Todd Strasser                                                       Oak Harbor

It's Perfectly Normal                                            Robbie H. Harris & Michael Emberly

Biology Text                                                         ?                                                                              Quincy

* The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn           Mark Twain                                                           Tacoma

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn              Mark Twain                                                           Eastmont

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn              Mark Twain                                                           Renton

The Beach                                                             Alex Garland                                                         Wenatchee

The Inferno                                                           Dante Alighieri                                                     Tukwila

When I was Puerto Rican                                   Esmeralda Santiago                                             North Thurston

Reading Mastery, level 1                                    SRA                                                                        Orchard Prairie

* Of Mice and Men                                             John Steinbeck                                                     Lake Washington

* Crazy Horse Electric Game                              Chris Crutcher                                                      Woodland

The Natural                                                           Bernard Malamud                                                Central Valley

The Mandala Project                                           Bailey Cunningham                                             Anacortes

** Collection of Books                                       Bill Myers                                                              Anacortes

Nightjohn                                                              Gary Paulson                                                        Bethel

Harry Potter Series                                               JK Rowling                                                            Bethel

EMC Literature Series                                         None                                                                      Bethel
Magic Eye: A New Way of Looking                 30 illusions by N.E. Thing Enterprises             Spokane

at the World

 

My Very Own Book About Me                         Lutheran Social Service of Washington          Spokane

Our City Spokane                                                 Marcia O' Neill and Nancy Gale Compau         Spokane

* What do You Say Dear?                                  Sesvle Joslin                                                         Spokane

** No title available                                             None                                                                      Davenport

             

Challenge by school level

The data collected in the survey also shows that the impact of the challenges and bans was not limited to one particular age group. Challenges occurred almost equally among elementary, middle and high school classes and libraries.

The challenge concerns for elementary schools were as follows: religion (5), sex (2), profanity (1), violence (1), and fear (1).  Middle school content concerns consisted of: sex (1), profanity (1), violence (1), religion (1) and inappropriate material (1). High Schools faced the following content challenges:  profanity (4), inappropriate material (3), and religion (3). The increase in concern over sexual content and profanity the higher grade level can be attributed to more mature content in books as children age; however it is interesting that for the most part the concerns seem universal at every grade level.

Schools Affected

Number of Challenges

Elementary

10

Middle School

5

High School

10

District Wide

7

                                                            (Two were unknown)

Although content concerns and who the challenges impacted varied greatly those who voiced the most concern over books and materials were not. Of the books challenged, 31 parents brought their concerns to the attention of the responding school districts while only one student and one community member raised their concerns. 

Where a book was being used within the district also made a difference in relation to the number of challenges each category received.  Books being used as part of classroom curriculum were twice as likely to be challenged (22 to 12) as those that were in the school library.  It should be noted, that not all schools indicated a distinction between use in the classroom and the library.   Also, in a few cases while the book may have been dropped from the classroom curriculum it was still made available in the library to the students.

Of the responding school districts, 122 (66%) indicated they had some set procedures in place for handling complaints or challenges to books and materials. Most had stated policies and procedures to follow and the complaint was handled on several different levels by teachers, librarians and school principals before being taken before the school board or materials selection committee to be evaluated. 

Study methodology

 

This is the first time AccessNorthwest conducted the study and it is the hope of AccessNorthwest to continue to conduct this survey each year to measure the changing attitudes and beliefs of educators and the community in the areas of education, freedom of expression, and access to information. This study was based on studies conducted elsewhere in the United States, such as an annual banned-book survey in Texas conducted by the ACLU (http://www.aclutx.org/pubed/bannedbooks/index.htm). For more background information about banned books, see AccessNorthwest’s history of banned books in the Pacific Northwest.

The survey was divided into three phases; the first consisted of contacting 20 randomly selected school districts via the telephone and conducting the survey over the phone.  The second was to send out email copies of the surveys to all the schools not contacted in the first phase.  In the third phase paper copies of the survey and return envelopes were sent to all the schools who had not responded in the first two phases. As responses were received the means by which they were received or obtained was documented in order to see which method was the most fruitful method to use for future surveys. 

 

Method

Number of Responses

Email

47

Fax

17

Phone

36

Mail

75

   

 * It should be noted that some responses used multiple means to achieve a complete answer.

 

 

 

To get an idea of how to improve on the survey for next year, 26 school districts who did not respond to the survey were called at random to find out the reasons why they did not respond and areas that could worked on.

 

Reason

Number

New Superintendent/ Supt. gone

9

Did not receive the survey

9

Did the survey, but AccessNorthwest did not receive it. 

2

Just didn’t fill out the survey

3

Had no challenges to report

3

 

 

Few respondents had suggestions for improvements, but those that did generally suggested that email would be a good way to handle the survey and that the survey could be made simpler and put online.

Acknowledgements

            Jennifer Magelky conducted the survey as an intern for AccessNorthwest. She was guided by executive director Dr. Susan Dente Ross and provided some help by research assistant David Cuillier. Magelky graduated from Washington State University in December 2004.