Wilson County Schools removes 400 books from school libraries
A stock image of a bookshelf.
More than 400 titles have been pulled from Wilson County Schools library shelves since July 1, in response to a state law that restricts access to books with sexual or obscene material.
According to documents provided this week by the Wilson County Board of Education, the list of banned books includes titles such as “Wacky Wednesday” by Dr. Suess and “No, David” by David Shannon.
Lyndsay Patrick-Wright, a former WCS librarian and parent, said in a Tik-Tok video that she believes some of the other lesser-known books on the book list – such as “Rani Patel in Full Effect” by Sonia Patel and “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George Johnson – were flagged for removal because “those books represent the beautiful diversity in our community” and discuss topics relating to LGBTQ issues.
“The Christian nationalist agenda wants to erase that. They want to make us a perfect, white, heteronormative Christian nation,” she said. “Well, that is not what America is, and that is not what Wilson County is.”
Other parents in the district have also expressed their disapproval of efforts to ban so many books in the district.
“It’s heartbreaking that our school district had to make this choice to remove so many books,” Erin Moore, a Wilson County parent, said in a report from WKRN.
The topic of book bans has been a source of controversy at school board meetings across the state, such as in Rutherford County, where the Board of Education recently voted to remove six titles from libraries, including “Beloved,” a Pulitzer-Prize winning novel from Toni Morrison about the horrors of slavery, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” a coming-of-age novel by Stephen Chbosky, and “Wicked” by Gregory Maguire, a novel which retells the “Wizard of Oz.”
Much of the debate between officials at school boards such as in Rutherford have revolved around interpretations of the law, as well as what is considered obscene, with some arguing that even the Bible could be banned under some interpretations of the law due to some of its more graphic scenes.
Many of the moves to ban certain books have been supported by right wing advocacy groups such as Moms for Liberty, which has maintained a presence at school board meetings across the state to advocate for book bans. That organization has worked on the local and national levels alongside Republican school board leaders to ban books that they consider age inappropriate, which often includes books on racial inclusivity and LGBTQ topics. Moms for Liberty in particular is considered an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
According to a recent survey conducted by the Tennessee Association of School Librarians, about 25 percent of the 600 members from districts across the state reported that some schools are waiting for others to flag books for review, while others have removed books that might cause controversy.
Patrick-Wright urged parents across the country to vote for candidates in this upcoming election that oppose such book bans as more and more schools continue to pull certain titles from library shelves.
“If we do not start electing Democratic representatives who actually represent our community, then what’s going to happen in your neighborhood is what happened in ours,” she said.
Wilson County Schools leaders could not be reached for comment on the list. They are expected to revisit the topic of book bans at their next school board meeting Thursday night.
