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Wednesday, November 10, 2021

OMG: Kansas school district pulls 29 books off library shelves, including major award winners


You know things are bad when the book burnings begin. 

Goddard School District in Kansas recently ordered its libraries to remove 29 books from library shelves. A representative for the district said on Tuesday that one parent objected to language he found offensive in “The Hate U Give,” a novel about the aftermath of a police officer killing a Black teenager. The parent then submitted a list of books he questioned, and district officials agreed to halt checkouts and complete a review.

One parent.

Twenty-nine books pulled.

 

Reported by: KMUW, Nov. 9, 2021 

 


List of books:

“#MurderTrending” by Gretchen McNeil

“All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson

“Anger is a Gift” by Mark Oshiro

“Black Girl Unlimited” by Echo Brown

“Blended” by Sharon M. Draper

“Crank” by Ellen Hopkins

“Fences” by August Wilson

“Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic” by Alison Bechdel

“Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe

“Heavy” by Kiese Laymon

“Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison

“Lily and Dunkin” by Donna Gephart

“Living Dead Girl” by Elizabeth Scott

“Monday’s Not Coming” by Tiffany D. Jackson

“Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope Perez

“Satanism” by Tamara L. Roleff


“The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime that Changed Their Lives”
by Dashka Slater

“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie

“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison

“The Girl Who Fell From the Sky” by Heidi W. Durrow

“The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood

“The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel” adapted by Renee Nault

“The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky

“The Testaments” by Margaret Atwood

“They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group” by Susan Campbell Bertoletti

“This Book is Gay” by James Dawson

“This One Summer” (graphic novel) by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki

“Trans Mission: My Quest to a Beard” by Alex Bertie


Surprising me the most is the excellent nonfiction book about the birth of the KKK. Clearly the parent is concerned that his children might read the book and decide to decry racism that he so closely holds.

Sad day.

Super sad day.

BTW: A book worth banning is a book worth reading. Check one of these books out today!

-Anne

9 comments:

  1. Wow, on top of all the other disturbing news, there is THIS. Makes me feel physically ill.

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  2. Such a sad state of affairs. I know in another state there is a list of 850 books that "they" want to get out of schools. I wonder if they have actually read any of the books and what they are really afraid of.

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    1. As I'm answering this I am listening to yet another story about book banning, this one out of Texas.

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  3. That KKK book is also the one I decided to take a look at, and I've put it on reserve at my library. It looks pretty good.

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    1. It is an excellent and interesting book. The author won an award for it.

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  4. Hello all. So our daughter goes to school in Goddard, KS, I just read an email about this and the books are not being pulled. Basically it is the parents responsibility to supervise what the kid reads, not the school.

    Personally I think that if you don't want to read the books, don't, just don't tell others what to read. Just don't hold back the discussions as others have conversations that may 'offend' your delicate frame of your utopia that you think your living.

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    1. The article in KMUW said the books were pulled to be reviewed. When I was a high school librarian I would occasionally field calls from parents who did not want their kids checking out this book or that book. I always said that that was something they needed to talk to their kids about. If a kid complained to me about a book, I would tell them to return it and I'd help them find something closer to their taste. Think of the black , Hispanic, LGBTQ, kids from broken homes, kids with drug addicted parents. They will never find a book that speaks to them. Sigh.

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  5. I guess you meant to send a different message or additional message on 2 of 2 but you appeared to send the same message twice.

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  6. I don't understand this. Are we going backwards as a society? I saw too on Twitter where a school board (I think in VA, not sure) was discussing burning books they didn't like. Not sure how serious they actually were but they were definitely pulling those books as well.

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