In an update that echoes throughout the halls of Wilson County’s school libraries, over 400 books have recently found themselves ejected from their shelves. As reported by WSMV, the purge includes works by beloved authors such as Dr. Seuss, John Green and Stephen King. This sweeping removal is part of an effort to adhere to state legislation that strictly monitors educational content.
Insiders say that an array of titles has been deemed unsuitable under the recent amendments to the Age Appropriate Materials Act of 2022. According to Nashville Scene, this act restricts access to books that contain explicit subjects ranging from nudity and sexual content to excessive violence or sadomasochistic abuse in public K-12 libraries. It lays out guidelines for continual reviews, mandates public lists of library materials to be posted on school websites, and sets the stage for parents, students, and staff to challenge the presence of certain books.
Following the directive, Wilson County Schools officials declined seeking advice from the Tennessee Department of Education but were instead instructed to consult with their legal team. Compliance with the law, as stated by a representative of Wilson County Schools in an interview with the Nashville Scene, falls squarely on the district’s librarians who made the book removal decisions.
Within the scope of literature now absent from the library’s embrace are distinguished works like “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood, and “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas, expurgated from high school libraries. Even Dr. Seuss’s seemingly innocuous “Wacky Wednesday” has disappeared from the elementary schools. Additional notable titles not spared by the scrubbing include “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, and Marjane Satrapi’s “The Complete Persepolis,” briefed by the Nashville Scene.
The local community received official confirmation of these removals during a board of education meeting last Thursday. Wilson County Director of Schools Jeff Luttrell was recorded as stating, “The law said that we had to develop a review plan,” in remarks captured by the Lebanon Democrat. The policy under which these removals were conducted required a report, which Luttrell presented to the board, underscoring the district’s ongoing compliance with the controversial state law.
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