Censorship report available

[Catherine Balkin <Catherine.Balkin@HARPERCOLLINS.COM>]

I know there's been quite a bit of discussion about censorship and Banned Books
Week on LM_Net lately, so when I saw an article in the 9/23/96 issue of
_Publishers Weekly_ about an annual report compiled by a Washington, DC-based
organization called People for the American Way, I thought some of you would
like to know about it.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

"Overall, 475 actions were recorded in 44 states last year.  Attempts to censor
books fell by 11% from 1994-1995, yet there were still 300 incidents.  Broad
challenges to the freedom to read,  however, rose 46%; and, the report notes, a
third of the incidents directly or indirectly involved the religious right."

The article went on to mention specific titles that had been challenged and
that were discussed in the report.

The complete report can be found at the PFAW Web site, located at
http://www.pfaw.org/; or by e-mail at pfaw@pfaw.org; or call 202-467-4999.

I hope this is useful to those of you who are facing censorship problems.

Catherine Balkin
Library Promotion Manager
HarperCollins Children's Books
catherine.balkin@harpercollins.com