Roughly 400 books have been removed from Wilson County Schools’ libraries since a state law went into effect this summer limiting which books public school students have access to. It’s possible even more could be removed in that district and others across the state.
Per the legislation — a recent update to the Age Appropriate Materials Act of 2022 — books that contain “nudity, descriptions or depictions of sexual excitement, sexual conduct, excess violence or sadomasochistic abuse” are not to be made available to students in public K-12 school libraries. The law also states that materials that are “patently offensive,” or that appeal to “prurient interests,” should not be available. The law requires schools to post public lists of library materials on their websites and create policies for continual reviews of library materials. This includes a process for parents, students or school staff to challenge books. If school boards do not respond to such challenges in 60 days, they can be taken to the Tennessee Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission.
A Wilson County Schools representative tells the Scene that the decisions of which books were to be removed were made by the district’s librarians in order to comply with the law, and that when the district sought clarification from the Tennessee Department of Education, they were directed to consult with their district’s legal personnel.
The list, which was recently outlined in a director’s report, includes frequently targeted texts such as Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give, which were removed from high school libraries. It also includes Dr. Suess’ Wacky Wednesday, which was removed from elementary school libraries, plus Alexie Sherman’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Erika L. Sánchez’s I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter and Marjane Satrapi’s The Complete Persepolis, which were removed from middle school libraries.
The complete list of books can be seen below.
Correction: A previous version of this post reported that there are more than 400 books on the Wilson County Schools list. The correct number is 390.
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