Book banning in Texas schools: Titles are pulled off library shelves in record numbers
From a secluded spot in her high school library, a 17-year-old girl spoke softly into her cellphone, worried that someone might overhear her say the things she’d hidden from her parents for years. They don’t know she’s queer, the student told a reporter, and given their past comments about homosexuality’s being a sin, she’s long feared they would learn her secret if they saw what she reads in the library.
That space, with its endless rows of books about characters from all sorts of backgrounds, has been her “safe haven,” she said — one of the few places where she feels completely free to be herself.
But books, including one of her recent favorites, have been vanishing from the shelves of Katy Independent School District libraries the past few months.
Gone: “Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts),” a book she’d read last year about a gay teenager who isn’t shy about discussing his adventurous sex life. Also banished: “The Handsome Girl and Her Beautiful Boy,” “All Boys Aren’t Blue” and “Lawn Boy” — all coming-of-age stories that prominently feature LGBTQ characters and passages about sex. Some titles were removed after parents formally complained, but others were quietly banned by the district without official reviews.
“As I’ve struggled with my own identity as a queer person, it’s been really, really important to me that I have access to these books,” said the girl, whom NBC News is not naming to avoid revealing her sexuality. “And I’m sure it’s really important to other queer kids. You should be able to see yourself reflected on the page.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-books-race-sexuality-schools-rcna13886
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Below is a link to an article featuring the 50 books most banned in TEXASS (I'll spell it that way until Gov. Hot Wheels and his minions are gone, don't get on my case). One of the books on the list is Monday's Not Coming. I read it last year, and it affected me profoundly in ways I'm still trying to process. I highly recommend it.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-library-books-banned-schools-rcna12986
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