Across different states, lawmakers, school districts, and even parents fight to get books pulled from public libraries and schools. Books being removed range from slavery and discrimination to the average teen coming-of-age novels.
There is a list of 850 books that lawmakers believe should be challenged in Texas alone. Why? The books are known for depicting anti-racism themes or LBGTQ+ characters. And, according to some, they are actively “poisoning young minds.”
Ironically, ‘Fahrenheit 451’ was banned from different schools in 2006. The book takes place in 2050 in a dystopian society where books are banned and burned. Fahrenheit 451 challenged it because it included vulgar language that some people may find offensive: one of the final books burned in the Bible.
Parents don’t seem to want their young, impressionable children reading anything that contains harsh language, violence, or anything that can be labeled as propaganda.
For example, ‘Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness’ is removed because it promotes racial justice and the children’s Black Lives Matter movement. Parents within the Eanes Independent School District in Austin, Texas, say that children’s books shouldn’t be promoting those types of ideologies. Other parents from the same district suggested replacing the non-fiction book ‘How to be an Anti-Racist’ with the Bible for the same reason.
Of course, these bans have been decades in the making. In the 1990s, a New York chancellor was essentially forced to remove the book ‘Heather Has Two Mommies’ from the school curriculum. This book was challenged because of its themes of homosexuality and anti-family, and the book would successfully become the most challenged in 1993.
Books about sexual health and puberty have also been removed, such as ‘It’s Perfectly Normal,’ has also been removed. The book is aimed at middle school students, and a mother in Haltom City, Texas, says that the material discussed isn’t appropriate for middle schoolers.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, though, some of these books do include not at all age-appropriate material. During a church group meeting, ‘Lawn Boy’ describes different sexual scenes between fourth-graders and a friendly reminder that fourth graders are nine years old.
‘Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts)’ is about a high schooler who runs a blog dedicated to sexual advice. Author Lev AC Rosen says that the book shows a much bigger narrative to empower queer teens.
He does make a point but, a book like that shouldn’t be widely available for children not in the demographic: high school students, 16-18-year-olds.
That type of content is, hate it or not, much too graphic for a middle schooler.
A young adult has access to those books, but that doesn’t mean that middle or elementary schools should have them shelved if the demographic doesn’t attend them. A middle schooler should not access a book with explicit material they aren’t emotionally mature enough for.
There is a big difference between banning a book because it’s labeled as propaganda and banning a book simply not appropriate for specific age groups. One limits the acceleration of information, and the other does something to protect children. People can make as many arguments as possible, but it will not change how only one makes sense.
School children shouldn’t be exposed to sexually explicit content in schools, but they should be exposed to newer and different political ideas, even if they can be seen as indoctrination.