{"id":12626,"date":"2023-05-03T11:47:05","date_gmt":"2023-05-03T15:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/?page_id=12626"},"modified":"2024-08-08T11:21:50","modified_gmt":"2024-08-08T15:21:50","slug":"melissa","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/bannedbooks\/melissa\/","title":{"rendered":"Banned Books 2024 &#8211; Melissa (previously published as George)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"marsha-row mt-4 mb-4 flex flex-wrap -mx-2 lg:-mx-6  justify-start border-0 border-gray-100 first:mt-0\">\n\t\n<p><!-- *  START LEFT COLUMN  *--><div class=\"columns w-full lg:w-3\/12  lg:px-6    mt-6\">\n<div class=\"\">\n\n<div>\n                                            \n\n<h2>Links<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a id=\"current\" href=\"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/bannedbooks\/bannedbooks-2024\/author\/\">2024 Author<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/bannedbooks\/bannedbooks-2024\/title\/\">2024 Title<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/bannedbooks\/\">Banned Books Home<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><hr \/><\/p>\n<h2>Cover<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/files\/2023\/05\/melissa.jpg\" alt=\"Melissa cover\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2351\" \/><\/p>\n<p><!-- *** ** END LEFT COLUMN ** ***-->\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><p><!-- *** ** START RIGHT COLUMN ** **--><div class=\"columns w-full lg:w-9\/12  lg:px-6    mt-6\">\n<div class=\"\">\n\n<p><strong>Marshall University does not ban books!  The information is provided to let people know what has been banned\/challenged elsewhere.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>2024<\/h2>\n<p>In September, members of Parents Advocating for Children\u2019s Education (PACE) demanded the censorship of 30 titles held in Lexington 2 School District (SC) libraries. Seven titles were retained without restriction. Two were removed from middle school libraries. One was restricted to use by<br \/>\njuniors and seniors. <strong>Melissa<\/strong> and 15 other titles were banned. A principal removed six titles without formal review, violating district policy.<\/p>\n<h2>2023<\/h2>\n<p>In January, a Public Library in Idaho received a request to reconsider <strong>Melissa<\/strong> from a patron who claimed it led to the \u201cnormalization of gender dysphoria.\u201d The book was retained without restriction.<\/p>\n<p>On February 21, Oklahoma Attorney General John O\u2019Connor announced his department would review 51 titles found in public school libraries to determine if they violate state obscenity laws. Complaints from the Tulsa County Moms for Liberty chapter and from Reclaiming Oklahoma Parent Empowerment spurred O\u2019Connor\u2019s investigation. It concluded two days later without finding that any of the books met the statutory definition of obscenity.<\/p>\n<h2>2022<\/h2>\n<p>An online petition was directed to the superintendent and board of the Novi (MI) Community School District protesting the inclusion of \u201csensitive materials topics,\u201d defined as \u201cgender identity, sexuality and ideological activist behavior(s).\u201d Titles included <strong>Melissa<\/strong> by Alex Gino, <strong>Sparkle Boy<\/strong> by Lesl\u00e9a Newman, <strong>A is for Activist<\/strong> by Innosanto Nagara, <strong>Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag<\/strong> by Rob Sanders, <strong>The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane<\/strong> by Kate DiCamillo, Nicola Yoon\u2019s short story \u201cSuper Human,\u201d the poem \u201cThe Cost of Being a Girl\u201d by Denise Frohman, and the poem \u201cIf a Princess Tries to Kidnap Your Daughter\u201d by Carlos Andres Gomez. Also at issue was a concern about bullying of people who disagreed with each other. Among public comments at the board meetings, several trustees and district officials spoke on behalf of the district\u2019s efforts<br \/>\nto be more inclusive. The titles apparently have been retained.<\/p>\n<p>For bans or challenges when titled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/bannedbooks\/george\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">George<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>On These Pages<\/h2>\n<p>A <strong>Banned<\/strong> book has been removed from a library, classroom, etc.<br \/>\nA <strong>Challenged<\/strong> book has been requested to be removed from a library, classroom, etc.<\/p>\n<h2>For additional information contact<\/h2>\n<p>Ron Titus, <a href=\"mailto:titus@marshall.edu\">titus@marshall.edu<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"tel:304-696-6575\">304-696-6575<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Last updated<\/h2>\n<p>August 8, 2024<\/p>\n<p><!-- ** ** END RIGHT COLUMN *** *-->\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n<p><!-- *** * END FULL PAGE DIV * *** --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":784,"featured_media":0,"parent":2039,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-full-width.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12626","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/784"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12626"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14547,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12626\/revisions\/14547"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}