Hurrah for students in Township High School District 214, a Chicago-area suburb. They are taking action to protest a single school board member’s attempt to ban seven books from the curriculum.

There's more at the As If site, in an article by Rosemary Graham. She writes:

"One student launched an on-line petition, which has over four hundred signatures and comments. Some students are wearing tape that reads “censored” over any writing that appears on their clothing and many plan to attend the school board meeting..."

It turns out the school board member hasn't even read the books in question -- only the scandalous bits. The books:

The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien
Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World, by Michael Pollan

Anyway, the board meeting was last night (Thurs) so hopefully we'll have more news soon. But whatever the outcome, those students are GREAT, and a model for taking action should the repression of certain titles turn out to be an issue in YOUR community.

Create a petition
Attend Meetings
Find a form of visible but non-disruptive protest
and Tell the papers you've done it!