North Little Rock School District Orders 50 LGBTQIA+ Books Hidden on Epic | Mountain Home Observer
A Central Arkansas school district ordered its staff to block students’ access to a wide range of LGBTQIA+ books “as soon as possible,” according to an internal memo the Advocate obtained via the state Freedom of Information Act.

“It has come to our attention that certain reading materials on the Epic Reading platform may not align with the diverse belief systems of all our school district families,” North Little Rock School District (NLRSD) administrators wrote in the memo.

Epic is a digital reading platform that hosts more than 40,000 books, audiobooks, and educational videos. The two-page memo provides NLRSD staff with a step-by-step process for how to hide the listed 50 books from students.

Alabama Board Seeks To Ban Books That “Positively” Depict Trans Themes From Library Youth Sections | AP
An Alabama board is seeking to prohibit public libraries from placing books that “positively” depict transgender themes and topics in teen and children’s sections.

The Alabama Public Library Service Board of Directors is considering a proposed rule change that expands the existing requirement for youth sections to be free of “material deemed inappropriate for children.” The new proposal states that includes any material that “positively depicts transgender procedures, gender ideology, or the concept of more than two biological genders.”

Frederick County School Board Defends New Library Book Policy As Opposition Speaks Out | The Northern Virginia Daily
A group of attendees used the public comment portion of the Frederick County School Board’s meeting to express their opposition to the board’s recent decision
surrounding sexually explicit library books. New rules for these books went into effect on October 21.

Frederick County Public Schools parents must now opt their children in to accessing these materials. The previous process required parents to opt their children out.

Books deemed sexually explicit also have been marked with a dot on the barcode, and they are expected to be moved to a wheeled cart that will sit near the librarian’s desk.

Texas District To Reopen Middle, High School Libraries Amid Book Reviews | Texas Public Radio
Middle school and high school students in the New Braunfels Independent School District have access to their school libraries again.

After more than an hour of public comments and more than two hours discussing the “legal issues related” to the matter in closed session, trustees reversed course and voted to reopen the libraries, 10 days after the Board voted to close them, while the district’s review of the more than 195,000 books in the collection continues.

Uptick in Book Banning Has Spread To the Stage. Jodi Picoult Is Hitting Back | AOL.com
Author Jodi Picoult has the dubious honor of being banned in two mediums—her books and now a musical based on her novel Between the Lines.

The superintendent of Mississinewa High School in Gas City, IN, canceled a production last week of Between the Lines, saying concerns were raised over “sexual innuendo” and alcohol references in the musical.

“It’s devastating for us to know that these kids who put in hundreds of hours of hard work had that torn away from them because of the objections of a single parent,” says Picoult.

Florida Book Ban Lawsuits Pile Up in Federal Courts | Tallahassee Democrat
Florida book removal lawsuits are piling up in federal appeals court, where judges are tasked to decide on the constitutionality of a law used to sweep classical and modern books off school library shelves, plus lawsuits related to books removed by school boards using this law.

The law in question (HB 1069) was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2023. It's been the talk of many of Florida's federal courtrooms over the summer. Now, multiple cases are pending an appellate ruling.

State Senator Wants To Prohibit Book Bans for Pennsylvania-Funded Libraries | Ellwood City Ledger
Pennsylvania could join a growing number of states that have prohibited publicly funded institutions from enacting bans on books and other material, if state Sen. Amanda Cappelletti has her way.

Citing 2023 data from the American Library Association, Cappelletti said in a co-sponsorship memo that Pennsylvania is among the worst states for banning books and that there were 56 attempts to prohibit just over 300 titles―the most in more than 20 years.