Libraries; *Textbooks IDENTIFIERS *First Amendment

This paper examines the censorship of school library _books and school textbooks in American public. schools, with particular emphasis on recent court cases. The 1982 Supreme Court case, Island Trees. Union Free School District versus Pico, is examined in detail, and it is-argued that Justice Brennan established precedent for a "right to read " on the part of school students. Several textbooks that purportedly teach "secular humanism " are described. Finally, _ the anti-censorship efforts of the American Library Association and the National Council of Teachers of English are described. (EW) * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document.