Districts in Missouri have removed鈥攅ither temporarily or permanently鈥攁lmost 300 books from school libraries because of a state law that bans sexually explicit content.
The banned books include graphic novels such as Batman and X-Men, a copy of Reader鈥檚 Digest, works about artists including Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, graphic novel adaptations of classics by William Shakespeare and Mark Twain, the Pulitzer-prize winning graphic novel Maus and other books about the Holocaust, and The Children鈥檚 Bible.
While Missouri is far from the only state attempting to remove books鈥攎ostly books about LGBTQ people and people of color鈥攆rom classrooms and libraries, the scope of the interpretation of Missouri鈥檚 bill is what makes this law draconian, according to Jonathan Friedman, the director of free expression and education programs from PEN America, a free speech advocacy organization that has been documenting book bans.
鈥淥f all the book bans I have seen for a year, this one is really astonishing, considering the range of materials that were swept up in it,鈥� Friedman said.
鈥淚t just is emblematic of the moment that we鈥檙e innationally with book bans. It鈥檚 a climate of fear that is sitting around schools and libraries, and the danger when you set up what are ultimately arbitrary directives to remove books.鈥�
The book removals are a result of Missouri鈥檚 SB 775, passed this year. A provision in that law specifically bans any depiction or description of sexually explicit material, which include sexual intercourse, genitalia, or 鈥渟adomasochistic abuse.鈥�
The provision provides an exception for works with serious artistic, anthropologic, or scientific significance. But this exemption has not been employed by some districts, Friedman said.
Administrators, teachers, librarians,or any other school employees that violate the law could face up to a year in jail or up to $2,000 in fines.
One Missouri district is responsible for most of the book removals
In all, 11 Missouri districts were responsible for 297 book bans, but 220 of them came from one district, the Wentzville School District, just west of St. Louis, which temporarily removed those titles from school library shelves for review. Friedman said an administrator directed all the school librarians to comb through their libraries and remove anything that they thought could get them in trouble.
A district spokesperson, however, took issue with that characterization.
鈥淭he majority of the books that are circulating online and noted as 鈥榖anned pending investigation鈥� are being returned to our shelves,鈥� said Brynne Cramer, the spokesperson for Wentzville, in an email to Education Week. 鈥淭hey were not 鈥榖anned鈥� during the review process. The review process was to ensure our library collections are in compliance with SB775.鈥�
But the district has removed books before, and been on behalf of Wentzville students for it. The lawsuit asks the district to put the eight banned titles at the center of that case back on the shelves and rescind the policy that allows them to let parents and students issue challenges to books.
In August, a district judge rejected the plaintiffs鈥� motion for a preliminary injunction, arguing that the district removing books from shelves does not constitute book bans, even though three of the eight challenged titles were permanently removed.
During the 2021-22 school year, in the district to question a librarian accused of giving pornography to kids, according to St. Louis Public Radio.
The Wentzville removals are significant because the same books are often challenged in multiple districts. For example, Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe, has has become the single most frequently banned title in the country, with 41 districts restricting students鈥� access to it or completely removing it from shelves. The second most-banned book, All Boys Aren鈥檛 Blue by George M. Johnson, has been prohibited in 29 districts.
鈥淥nce a book gets on one list, sometimes you see it kind of spread and be picked up in other places as something to be concerned about and ultimately removed,鈥� Friedman said.
Missouri is not the only state trying to ban books
Over the summer, the attorney general of Utah in accordance with a law called 鈥淪ensitive Material in Schools,鈥� which directed schools to remove library books if they were considered 鈥減ornographic under state statute,鈥� according to the memo.
In August, the Alpine School District鈥攖he state鈥檚 largest鈥攑ulled more than 50 books for review and flagged more than 30 more for later scrutiny because of the state law and the attorney general鈥檚 guidance.
However, the district later decided to temporarily restrict the books in school libraries instead of banning them altogether after , Friedman said.
Missouri鈥檚 directive is not as direct as the Utah memo, but it includes a criminal punishment for violating it.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e not telling people to remove books,鈥� Friedman said about Missouri鈥檚 law. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e sort of just insinuating that if certain things are in schools, that will get people in trouble.鈥�
Legislation in Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, and other states, while not explicitly banning books, has made it more difficult for students to have unrestricted access to titles about LGBTQ characters and people of color.
Twenty authors signed open letter against book bans
This week, several notable American authors joined PEN America鈥檚 plea to Missouri districts to protest the book bans, which they called 鈥渁 grave threat to the freedom to read.鈥�
The authors include Margaret Atwood, the author of the dystopian novel The Handmaid鈥檚 Tale; Kobabe, who wrote Gender Queer: A Memoir; and Art Spiegelman, the author of Maus, which chronicles Holocaust survivors鈥� stories. All three books were among those removed in Missouri.
鈥淪tudents in Missouri are having these educational opportunities denied,鈥� the open letter says. 鈥淭hey are bearing the brunt of a hasty and poorly considered reaction to a broadly worded provision that has spurred censorious acts across the state.鈥�
