Marshall University does not ban books! The information is provided to let people know what has been banned/challenged elsewhere.
2025
On August 12, 2024, the board of the Elizabeth School District (CO) announced they were removing 19 titles from school libraries “for review” and requiring parental permission for 110 others. The board cited concerns over the religious views expressed; LGBTQIA+ content; and depictions of drug use, sex, and violence in the books. Nineteen Minutes was one of the titles removed. Titles requiring parental permission included 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, and Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. On March 19, 2025, a federal judge ordered the district to restore access to all 129 titles and prohibited further censorship of library books “because the district disagrees with the views expressed therein or merely to further their preferred political or religious orthodoxy.”
2020
A patron of the Josephine County Library district (Grants Pass, OR) complained about “talk about the vagina, penis, and sex” in Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, and requested that an edited version replace it. After consideration by a committee of the various merits of different editions, the original material was retained in the children’s section as well as the adult and young adult sections of the library.
2014
Challenged, but retained in the Northville (MI) middle schools despite anatomical descriptions in the book. Before the school district’s vote, 10 free speech organizations signed a letter urging the Northville School District to keep the book. The letter, which was sent to the superintendent and board of education members, “emphasized the power and relatability of Frank’s diary for middle school students. Frank’s honest writings about her body and the changes she was undergoing during her two-year period of hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam can serve as an excellent resource for students undergoing these changes.”
2011
Challenged at the Culpeper County (VA) public school by a parent requesting that her daughter not be required to read the book aloud. Initially, it was reported that officials have decided to stop assigning a version of Anne Frank’s diary, one of the most enduring symbols of the atrocities of the Nazi regime, due to the complaint that the book includes sexual material and homosexual themes. The director of instruction announced the edition, published on the 50th anniversary of Frank’s death in a concentration camp, will not be used in the future despite the fact the school system did not follow its own policy for handling complaints. The remarks set off a hailstorm of criticisms online and brought international attention to the 7,600-student school system in rural Virginia. The superintendent said, however, that the book will remain part of the English classes, although it may be taught at a different grade level.
2010
Challenged at the Culpeper County (VA) public school by a parent requesting that her daughter not be required to read the book aloud. Initially, it was reported that officials have decided to stop assigning a version of Anne Frank’s diary, one of the most enduring symbols of the atrocities of the Nazi regime, due to the complaint that the book includes sexual material and homosexual themes. The director of instruction announced the edition, published on the 50th anniversary of Frank’s death in a concentration camp, will not be used in the future despite the fact the school system did not follow its own policy for handling complaints. The remarks set off a hailstorm of criticisms online and brought international attention to the 7,600-student school system in rural Virginia. The superintendent said, however, that the book will remain part of the English classes, although it may be taught at a different grade level.
On These Pages
A Banned book has been removed from a library, classroom, etc.
A Challenged book has been requested to be removed from a library, classroom, etc.
For additional information contact
Ron Titus, titus@marshall.edu
304-696-6575
Last updated
August 11, 2025