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Local bans in districts across the state of Texas are gaining momentum as a new law is implemented, imposing stricter restrictions on the books that students can access from school libraries. In some instances, these bans are taking unexpected and surprising turns.
In Katy, a growing Houston suburb, school officials recently bought $93,000 worth of new library books and promptly put them in storage so an internal committee could review them. The district then banned 14 titles (bringing its total since 2021 to 30), including popular books by Dr. Seuss and Judy Blume, as well as “No, David!” an award-winning children’s book featuring a mischievous cartoon character who at one point jumps out of a bathtub, exposing a cartoon backside. (This wasn’t the district’s first foray into regulating cartoon nudity; over the summer, a book about a crayon that lost its wrapper, becoming “naked” in the process, was flagged for review but ultimately retained.)
Following the latest removals, the Katy school board decided that cartoon butts would be exempted from a district policy that called for removing books showing nudity. “Explicit frontal nudity,” on the other hand, would not be allowed.
“The board’s intent was never to remove well-known cartoon-like children’s books just because they showed a little drawing of a little boy’s rear-end,” its president, Victor Perez, said, according to the Houston Chronicle.
A school district near Beaumont gained attention last month when they took action against a substitute middle school teacher who had shared sections of an illustrated version of Anne Frank’s diary with students. The diary described her experience of hiding from the Nazis and was published after her tragic death in the Holocaust, marking a significant event in history. Located a hundred miles to the east, this incident made headlines.
The graphic novel version includes descriptions of Frank’s attraction to other girls as well as her clinical descriptions of her private parts.
The book, which had not been approved as part of the district’s curriculum, had been included on a reading list sent to parents at the start of the school year, according to television station KFDM.
The district is investigating whether administrators knew the book was being used in the class, according to news reports.
And just south of Houston, the private Friendswood Christian School announced it was canceling its Scholastic Book Fair, barring the nation’s largest children’s book publisher, which has put on book fairs at schools around the country for decades.
In a letter to parents, obtained by ABC13 in Houston, the school made clear the decision was aimed at books featuring LGBTQ+ themes and characters.
The school expressed that the book fair, which plays a significant role in their fundraising efforts, has recently showcased an increasing number of books endorsing LBGTQ+ perspectives. This has led them to a point where they acknowledge varying values and beliefs, particularly concerning the exposure of young children to adult subjects. Friendswood Christian School, a private institution dedicated to fostering a comprehensive learning atmosphere for children, strives to integrate Christian principles within their academic structure. Their aim is to establish an environment that allows children to maintain their innocence for as long as feasible.
Efforts in Texas to ban books have taken troubling directions as the state enters its third consecutive school year of such activity, according to Kasey Meehan, the Freedom to Read program director for the New York-based free speech organization PEN America.
In an interview, she expressed that the initial book removal was just the beginning, as it resulted in an ongoing chilling effect that affects numerous schools. She explained that this effect goes beyond mere book removal, causing caution and increased scrutiny regarding the availability and accessibility of books for students.
The local censorship efforts come as courts wrestle with a new Texas law that requires booksellers to rate public school library books based on their depictions of or references to sex. Books in which such references are deemed “patently offensive” by the vendors will be issued a “sexually explicit” rating and can’t be sold to schools and must be removed from shelves of school libraries. Books that reference or depict sex generally will be rated “sexually relevant” and require parental permission to read.
Vendors who do not utilize ratings would be prohibited from selling books to Texas schools.
On Sept. 18, a U.S. district judge in Austin issued a written order blocking the law, which was passed this spring, from taking effect. Judge Alan D. Albright, a Trump appointee, ruled the law would impose “unconstitutionally vague requirements” on booksellers and “misses the mark on obscenity.”
“In relinquishing its duty to safeguard children, the state compels private individuals and corporations to conform with an unlawful regulation that infringes upon the First Amendment,” he stated.
A week later, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the judge’s ruling, temporarily allowing the law to go into effect while the court considers the case, which it is expected to take up this month.
Book bannings have increased precipitously in the state since ProPublica and The Texas Tribune started reporting on the issue in rural Hood County two years ago, where a fight over library books foreshadowed the intense partisanship that has come to mark many Texas school board races. The U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation into the Granbury Independent School District after the superintendent was secretly recorded ordering librarians to remove library books with LGBTQ+ themes.
The federal probe, which followed a ProPublica-Tribune investigation with NBC News, remains open, according to the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. Last year, in response to the outlets’ investigation, the district said it was committed to supporting students of all backgrounds.
The issue continues to roil Granbury, as some community members and trustees don’t believe the district has gone far enough to remove books. Last month, the school board censured a trustee who wants additional titles removed after she was accused of sneaking into a school library to examine books with a cellphone flashlight.
According to a report from the American Library Association, Texas was home to the most attempts to ban or restrict books in 2022.
According to the Office of Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association (ALA), there were 1,269 recorded attempts to remove books from school or public libraries in the United States in 2022. Out of these, 93 incidents occurred in Texas and impacted more than 2,300 book titles. The ALA highlighted that book challenges nationwide nearly doubled in 2022, indicating the presence of a progressively organized conservative political movement. This movement aims to eliminate books discussing topics such as race, history, gender identity, sexuality, and reproductive health from public and school libraries that do not align with their beliefs.
The American Library Association itself has come under fire among conservative circles in Texas. In August, Midland County commissioners voted to withdraw from the association. Days later, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission pulled out.
A similar report by PEN America found 3,362 instances of book banning at K-12 schools during the 2022-23 school year, up 33% from the previous year. According to the organization, Florida schools accounted for the most removals, 1,406, followed by Texas with 625.
What’s been your experience with school library book bans in Texas? Email Austin-based reporter Jeremy Schwartz at [email protected] to let him know.
