Locally and nationally, some books on library shelves might find themselves bidding farewell, leaving individuals without some books to read.

     In states across the U.S., the banning of books is increasingly growing, stemming from school boards in states such as Texas, Wyoming, and Pennsylvania, leaving more than 1,500 memoirs and novels off shelves in libraries and classrooms. 

     “I believe Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, maybe Mississippi, Southern states mostly, [are banning books],” junior Anthony Hanrahan said.

     These challenged and banned books, such as “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe and “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, commonly face controversy from legislators and school boards. According to Banned Books Week, these texts depict racism, violence, sexually explicit content, LGBTQ+ content, and profanity. State lawmakers such as Texas governor Greg Abbott and Florida governor Ron DeSantis have proposed multiple bills to limit books with the listed content. “We will make sure that parents can send their kids to school to get an education, not an indoctrination,” DeSantis said.

     “Maybe school boards are banning books based on what they want the kids to hear, like what is considered politically correct,” freshman Abby Navarro said.

     Within the last couple of months, the UCPS school board has proposed changes to make it easier to censor what books are allowed in public schools, leading to divided viewpoints between parents and students. In March, parents gathered outside of the Central Academy of Technology and Arts (CATA) for an in-person read-in with their children, protesting the school board’s book-availability changes.

     According to UCPS Policy 5.1, “The following principles will be used to govern selection of core instructional materials, supplemental materials, and media collection materials: h. the reputation and significance of the material’s author, producer and publisher; and i. the price of the material weighed against its value and/or the need for it.” 

     “Certain topics come up that [some adults] think are not appropriate, either for that age level or appropriate for what they believe personally, or their opinions about certain things personally. I think some of it might be political, some of it might be religious, some of it might be cultural,” media specialist Carrie Mabry said.

     In many states, bills and laws are being passed to restrict educational access to certain books. For example, according to the Oklahoma Senate, Oklahoma Senate Bill 1142 prevents schools from promoting or keeping books that address the studies of sex, sexual-preferences, sexual identity, and gender identity. 

     The bill also states that guardians who believe certain books violate this bill can submit a request to their local school’s superintendent or administrator, tasking the individual with removing the book within 30 days. If they fail to do so, that administrator would be dismissed and fired from their job.

     Another example can be seen in the state of Tennessee. According to the New York Times, on Jan. 10th, the McMinn County Board of Education unamiously voted to remove graphic novel “Maus” by Art Spiegelman, which is centered around the Holocaust, due to curse words and nudity.

     From this and other book-ban pursuits nationally, legal action has sprouted. For example, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have filed for Tennesee’s records, which contain information on Tennesee’s book ban pursuits.

     “Some of the books may not necessarily get banned, but they’re challenged. So then [the challenged books] have to go through a process where there’s a committee that reviews the book and then decides whether or not to keep it or to ban it. In a lot of cases, the books are actually kept, but, in some cases, they’re not,” Mabry said.

     The reactions to these laws have not always been united with many people believing that their children should be represented in books and that people should be able to read something that they relate to. On the other hand, many people believe that their parental right is to decide what their children should read.

     “I think [that there are] people who want to be right, and they want to pass their own laws, I guess, and there’s books that are going to sway people away from that, and [some people will] not like that very much,” Hanrahan said.

     As the long-term affects of censored books are still being made by school boards and governors, people ponder what will occur.

     “Discussing these banned books [is] important because the topics being banned are still present today and should not be ignored. This is the next generation and [people] should be hearing about all of these issues and areas of life that will affect the people around them or even themselves,” Navarro said.