WARNING: This article contains sexually explicit content quoted from books.
McKinney ISD removed 73 book titles from its libraries that failed to meet specific criteria following an extensive evaluation.
The school district put a notice on its website with a list of removed books.
“McKinney ISD has completed a review of our campus libraries,” the notice states. “The following titles do not meet the selection criteria in board policy EFB Local and have been removed from McKinney ISD libraries.”
Parents in MISD have complained to its school board for years that there are sexually explicit books in the district’s libraries.
In January, the district established a book review policy to monitor “harmful material” or “obscene” content. Some of the books removed from McKinney ISD libraries included graphic descriptions of sex.
“He palmed my breast, his thumb flicking over my nipple,” reads a passage in A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas, which was removed. “I cried out, and he buried himself in me with a mighty stroke. For a moment, I was nothing, no one. Then we were fused, two hearts beating as one, and I promised myself it always would be that way as he pulled out a few inches, the muscles of his back flexing beneath my hands, and then slammed back into me.”
Identical by Ellen Hopkins was also removed. The book focuses on 16-year-old identical twins, one of whom is sexually assaulted by her father.
“[W]hen Daddy finished, he burrowed his face into Kaeleigh’s hair and wept,” a passage reads. “Confused at his tears, and at the sticky stuff icing her hands, still Kaeleigh pleaded, ‘Don’t cry, Daddy. What’s the matter? Didn’t I love you good enough?’”
Both titles were reviewed and retained in Plano ISD, as reported by The Dallas Express. They are also available in Dallas ISD libraries, according to the district’s catalog.
Upon discovering the above texts were accessible to Plano ISD students, local advocacy group Citizens Defending Freedom called attention to their presence in school libraries on social media.
“This is horrifying that parents have to fight to have this kind of content pulled from shelves. Would you let your child read these books?” the nonprofit wrote.
HB 900, passed in Texas this year, bans school libraries from purchasing sexually explicit books. The legislation is facing legal challenges, as reported by The Dallas Express, as booksellers claim it constitutes a “Book Ban” and violates First Amendment free speech protections.
McKinney ISD promoted a link earlier this year to an external website entitled “The Kids Should See This,” a repository of videos intended for “curious minds of all ages” that featured content including a drag queen reading a children’s book. The link to the site was listed as elementary and high school “enrichment content” for Gifted and Talented students, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Dallas ISD appeared to remove at least one book this year that parents claimed was sexually explicit, as reported by The Dallas Express. The district still offers several books pertaining to LGBTQ topics, such as Being Jazz: My Life as a Transgender Teen by Jazz Jennings.
