Image Credit: Rutherford County Schools
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
The Rutherford County Board of Education removed some books with questionable content last week, complying with the newly amended Age-Appropriate Materials Act of 2022.
A total of six books were removed from the district’s high school libraries after a vote on Thursday night at a school board meeting including two titles from Sara J. Maas, an author who is known for writing sexually explicit content in her young adult books.
The two books written by Maas – Queen of Shadows and Tower of Dawn – come from her Throne of Glass series which according to this review is not as “spicy” as some of her others but which describes Tower of Dawn as “somewhat spicy.” Queen of Shadows received a rating of 3 or Minor Restricted from Book Looks sexual nudity, sexual activities, violence, and profanity.
Two other books by Maas, including a different book in the Throne of Glass series, also containing explicit scenes, was placed on a mature reading list last year in Wilson County high schools.
Those books – Kingdom of Ash and House of Earth and Blood were given a “Not for Minors” rating on Book Looks due to obscene and explicit sexual activities, sexual nudity, profanity, violence, graphic violence, and also alcohol and drug use.
The other books removed from Rutherford County high school library shelves are Beloved by Toni Morrison, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, and Wicked (The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West) by Gregory Maguire.
This year, the Tennessee General Assembly amended the Age-Appropriate Materials Act to more clearly give guidance regarding what constitutes objectionable material.
The law which went into effect on July 1st, 2024, forbids school districts from allowing materials that contain nudity or that describe or depict sexual activity, including sexual excitement, sexual conduct, sadomasochistic abuse, or excess violence.
The law also requires school boards to establish procedures for the review of all materials in school libraries.
Not all school districts are waiting for their board of education to have meetings about what to remove. According to a recent survey of members of the Tennessee Association of School Librarians, more that 1,100 titles have been taken off shelves in Tennessee school libraries since the law went into effect.
The ACLU of Tennessee who has stated that the removal of books in Rutherford County Schools goes against the First Amendment, believes that the district’s students will not be able to develop critical thinking skills if they don’t have access to books that depict explicit sex scenes, violence, and drug use.
However, removing questionable books from schools does not mean that students don’t have access to them.
The 111th Tennessee General Assembly increased funding four years ago to the state’s online database of E-books, Tennessee R.E.A.D.S.
Accessible to any Tennessean with a library card, the organization’s catalog allows students to access electronic copies of books with mature content without restriction, as well as audiobooks.
A student with a library card and a phone may read any book that the catalog contains, even those that have been “banned” at their school.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
One Response
I thought distributing pornography to minors was a felony in Tennessee. How does the state get away with allowing the set up of an access port for pornography distribution to children with library cards? Where are the District Attorneys, Judges and children advocacy agencies, NGO’s, etc. demanding prosecutions for this crime? The Governor Bill Lee is a shameful example of a man and is complicit in this crime for not demanding prosecutions of responsible parties in placing these books in a public library inventory with child access.