The push to ban books in Texas schools spreads to public libraries

[demmiblue]

Source: The Texas Tribune

When the Llano County Library shuts down for three days this week, starting Tuesday, it won’t be for the holidays.

Instead, a group of six librarians in this small Central Texas county will be conducting a “thorough review” of every children’s book in the library, at the behest of the Llano County Commissioners Court. Their mission will be to make sure all of the reading material for younger readers includes subjects that are age-appropriate. A new “young adults plus” section will be added to separate books written for an older teen audience from those geared toward younger readers.

The three-day closure of the library system in Llano County, about 80 miles northwest of Austin, also means a temporary shutdown of its virtual portal through the online book provider Overdrive.

“I think we owe it to all parents, regardless if it’s a school library or a public library, to make sure that material is not inappropriate for children,” Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham said.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/12/20/texas-library-books/

[Walleye]

1. Wow! Cancel culture on steroids

[llashram]

2. 21st century nazis

...they will be burning them soon.

[LW1977]

3. Sieg Heil y'all!

Joe Manson don’t care about no Fascism taking over, his yacht needs a second coat of paint.

[AllaN01Bear]

4. 1950s mcarthyisem in effect .

[walkingman]

8. We are definitely headed back to the 1950s where conformity is the rule and

women knew their place. How dare anyone think we need to move into the 21st century in Texas. Now let's all go to the beer joint and dancehall and kick some shit.

[Lovie777]

5. Won't be spending my money in Texas anytime soon . .....

I will tho send monies to Beto.

[Cartoonist]

6. They don't mean age appropriate

They mean race appropriate, and the other things.

[DFW]

7. And just who, precisely, will determine if books are appropriate?

Oh, right, a bunch of fanatic right-wing zealots who would reshape the world to their own perverse standard.

The Republican Bill of Rights: “Congress shall make no law restricting freedom of any sect of the Christian religion. Restrictions shall be imposed by Republicans purely on a local basis.”

[Deuxcents]

9. First the schools..then public libraries..

Will they have a squad to check their Homes next? Then maybe burn em all?

[maryellen99]

10. Next will be the adult books in the library as well nt

[Lonestarblue]

11. I remember reading a comment many years ago about books used to teach reading.

The comment was something along the lines of, “Why are fourth graders in Massachusetts reading challenging texts while fourth graders in Mississippi are still reading Jack and Jill books?” For Republicans, the goal is not to educate all children, especially poor and minority ones, but to feed them the propaganda that supports white privilege.

Democrats differ from Republicans in many ways, but education is certainly one of them. Republicans want their children to be brainwashed into believing exactly what their parents believe. They do not want them examining concepts that might cause them to challenge the stereotypes and biases the parents hold. Banning books that aid in real education is a well-used tactic for Republicans. The Texas Board of Education has been doing it for decades, but in more subtle wast as it forces textbook publishers to acquiesce to their demands or be forbidden from selling their books in Texas. The result has been totally whitewashed history books that then get sold in the rest of the country. Demands for science textbooks include no discussion of climate change or that it is caused by human actions. Many books must teach the glories of the feee enterprise system and none of its problems. Other religious may not be presented in a positive light, if they’re allowed to be discussed at all in world history books.

[keithbvadu2]

12. When will they ban the Bible with its sex and filth?

When will they ban the Bible with its sex and filth?

[heckles65]

16. With all its euphemisms

"Servants" = slave, someone you steal labor from. Oh, and if they're female, rape at your pleasure.

"Put away" (as Joseph was considering doing with Mary) = put to death.

"Take virgins" = take sexual slaves, see above.

[vlyons]

13. I don't have a problem with it

Making sure the c hildren's library is age appropriate for young childfen is ok with me, assuming that they specify what a "young" cjild. Is it up to 8 0r 9 years? An older child, a teen-ager in Jr or Sr Hi can always walk to another area to get a more mature book. By that age, they already know where DaD keeps his Palyboy mags

[Diamond_Dog]

14. They don't want a library.

They want a carefully monitored indoctrination center.

[Democrats_win]

15. A distraction?

The texas state government is a total mess so why not distract with this BS?

These fools can't keep the lights on, should they be deciding what people read? The librarians, and teachers are the closest to the students, they should guide them. Don't leave it to reactionary dip shits with their thumbs up their asses. Besides, this is America, who reads anymore? Just the kids, so "lets stop that" FUBAR!

[RobinA]

17. I Hope There's No

enforcement of the ageyness. I was a consumer of a vast number of age inappropriate books at a fairly young age and I'm quite a bit better for it.

I'm actually pretty amazed at how dumbed down the books they read in school are these days.

[Thtwudbeme]

19. Do you mean required or self selected

I am a middle school librarian, and I would like clarification on that.

[RobinA]

21. The Required Reading

seems to be at a significantly lower level than it used to be, and don't even get me started on books of excerpts from classics. In several English classes in high school we had a list of books, most of which were a pretty tough go, that we could chose from. Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost, etc. The assignment would be the same, but you applied it to your chosen book. We would also have books that everybody read, Tale of Two Cities, Return of the Native, etc. Hell, we read A Winter's Tale and The Merchant of Venice in 6th grade, with slow reading and much background from the teacher. She did warn us that the word "bastard" appeared in Winter's Tale and that it wasn't a word that we should use in public (how quaint). It made me not afraid of Shakespeare.

For my own reading my books were obviously selected by me. I didn't use the school library much for my own reading because I felt the offerings were pretty bland. I didn't read Paradise Lost for pleasure, of course, but I did favor adult novels from the community library over what was in the school library. I WISH I could remember the names of some of them, because I'd like to read them again.

For context, I was in a fairly decent public school in the academic track. I had a friend who went to a top prep school and the stuff they did left my school in the dust. Of course, they were admitted because they were well above average intellectually, but in terms of emotional development they were...not.

[Thtwudbeme]

23. Maybe you should visit a school now- my media center books are not "bland"

by any stretch of the imagination. I have been actively diversifying my collection to accurately represent the demographics of my school/ and city. My students are begging to start a Manga club. In February, I will have a select group of students in a book club to read and discuss Stamped.

In addition to reading, my media center contains a large makerspace. This is where we get creative, and make "low tech" products (Blackout poetry), and high tech (stop motion animation, green screen video production, coding projects).

My 6th graders are currently reading A Long Walk to Water], 7th is reading Refugee, and 8th is in Brown Girl Dreaming.

We have a very competitive Battle of the Books group- you may google the MS BOB books for this year- look at the ones from the past several years.

In comparison to what we are reading and promoting, your list of books that you considered challenging sounds....well, dull...and have very little to do with the 21st century.

[BlueIdaho]

18. What a shit hole state.

Why would anyone want to live in such a fascist cesspoool?

[pfitz59]

20. "Oh, but the children!" (Much hand-ringing)

Just another excuse to force conformity. Beat the children enough and deprive them of any means of escape. They will conform.

[Vinca]

22. Does this mean they plan to keep their children in a bubble through college and into

their adult lives? Someday, the ones who venture beyond this craziness, will discover all is not evil and reflect on mom and dad being batshit crazy.