Artist: Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park
Year: 2013
Date of Action: May 2017
Region: North America
Location: McArthur, Ohio
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion, Religion
Medium: Literature
Confronting Bodies: Vinton County High School, McArthur, Ohio
Description of Artwork: Eleanor & Park is award-winning young adult novel by Rainbow Rowell that is featured widely in English curricula and is critically praised for its acute exploration of themes such as love, race, bullying, body image, and abuse. It has occupied The New York Times bestseller list. While written about and for teens, the themes are universal. A frequently challenged book, it has been listed as no.10 on the American Library Association’s ‘Top Ten Challenged Books list.’
The Incident: Eleanor & Park was removed from a tenth-grade English curriculum following complaints. A parent of a student at Vinton County High School posted an out-of-context image of a passage from the book containing “foul language” on social media and issued a formal complaint about the book to the school. The school administration responded by cancelling English lessons that used the book, replacing it with a different novel.
Results of Incident: In a May 8, 2017 letter to the school administration, The National Coalition Against Censorship and 6 other organizations committed to defending kids’ right to read urged Vinton County High School to restore student access to Eleanor & Park. The letter was signed by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, National Council of Teachers of English, American Booksellers for Free Expression, Association of American Publishers, Authors Guild and PEN America. The case in ongoing.
Source:
NCAC Demands Ohio High School Restore Eleanor & Park to English Curriculum, BY NCAC, MAY 9, 2017
CBLDF Joins Defense of Eleanor & Park, May 9, 2017, By Betsy Gomez
See also:
Spotlight on Censorship: ‘Eleanor and Park,’ Intellectual Freedom blog, April 11, 2017
“I Don’t Want to be a Safe Writer”: An Interview With Rainbow Rowell, NCAC, OCTOBER 7, 2016
Can you help defend Eleanor & Park from censorship? Rainbow Rowell, September 22, 2016
Previous incidents:
Oregon School Board Reconsiders Hasty Ban of Eleanor & Park, February 15, 2017, By Maren Williams
Rainbow Rowell’s ‘Eleanor & Park’ Retained in Minnesota High School, By Karyn M. Peterson on November 25, 2013
Parents Action League wants 'Eleanor & Park' removed from Anoka-Hennepin libraries, October 2, 2013
Censorpedia, Anoka-Hennepin incident, 2013
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Censorpedia is a crowdsourced online database of censorship cases within the arts and in culture. It is aimed at those researching censorship, at activists working for freedom of expression and at artists and other cultural producers whose expression has been subject to censorship or attempted censorship.
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