Picking on the Penguins: Investigating the Influence of Law During a Public School Library Book Challenge

• In Event: Banning Books and Censoring Curriculum: Evidence From the Educational Battlegrounds

Abstract

This study centers on an effort in a large suburban district to remove the children’s book And Tango Makes Three from elementary school libraries. The decision in Island Trees Sch. Dist. v. Pico by Pico, 457 U.S. 853 (1982)provides the keystone of the federal decision-making arena vis-a-vis ruling on a book-banning case. This study found that Pico (1982) did not influence the decision-making process. Additionally, it was not the school board but the district superintendent who ultimately engaged in the decision-making process about the book’s status in the library. The findings of this study indicate that the free speech rights of public school students were not a central area of focus during the book challenge.

Author

• Pamela Catherine Callahan, University of Maryland