Book censorship in schools is a prevalent issue in Missouri school districts after the passing of a senate bill named SB 775 which bans any physical media with sexually explicit content from classrooms and school libraries. This law was very broad in its description of what could be sexually explicit, it ranged from talking about anything explicit or descriptions of sado-masochistic violence. SB 775 allows for the criminal prosecution of teachers and parents if they introduce any media to minors that falls under SB 775’s ban.
In 2022, almost 300 books were taken off of school shelves. But the banned books we wide ranging on topics, from The Children’s Bible to Maus, a graphic novel about the Holocaust, showing just how broad the law banning of these books could be.
At Platte County High School, librarian Valorie Stokes said it is a bit different for her since she is a high school librarian. For elementary and middle school librarians there might be a different approach since they are still younger kids and the librarians have to keep it age appropriate.
“Book banning is kind of a tricky situation for schools, a lot of times, because you want to have a collection that is diverse and where kids can find examples of themselves, but you also have parents who are reluctant to have their children exposed to some types of people,” Stokes said.
Stokes shared that there is a procedure whenever a book gets challenged in the district, which happened a couple years ago.
“A few years back, we had three books that were challenged, and we have a procedure in the district to follow when somebody wants a book taken out of the collection, we don’t just automatically go take it off the shelf.”
Of the three books that were challenged, one wasn’t taken off the shelves at all, the second one was restricted and the final book was removed from the library completely. The book that remained on shelves is “Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope Pérez, which is about a forbidden romance between a Mexican-American girl and a black boy set against a backdrop of the 1937 New London school explosion. The novel that was restricted, which means the student needs signed permission to check out the book, was “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson. “All Boys Aren’t Blue” is a collection of personal essays written as a memoir/ manifesto. The final book that was completely removed from shelves was “Fun Home” by Allison Bechdel, a graphic novel memoir about her childhood in Pennsylvania and detailing her relationship with her father
“People try and say that it’s for protecting the children, or that the information is not supposed to be taught in that way, but books are supposed to be learning about oneself in their environment,” sophomore Katherine Jones said.
Jones thinks that book banning is a political issue, with parents challenging books to force their beliefs forward.
“[It] is a more political issue because there’s always underlying beliefs and biases of the parents who are advocating for these bannings,” Jones said.
