WARNING: This article contains sexually explicit content quoted from books.
Plano ISD reviewed and approved a list of books that include descriptions of incest and underage sex.
Citizens Defending Freedom, a non-profit activist group, admonished Plano ISD for maintaining such books in school libraries after complaints surfaced over sexually explicit content being made accessible to students.
A new state law, HB 900, bans school libraries from purchasing sexually explicit books. The law is currently facing legal challenges over allegations of First Amendment free speech violations, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Plano ISD did not respond to a request for comment.
WARNING! Explicit content!
Concerned parents along with members Collin County Citizens Defending Freedom have been fighting to have 70 incredibly obscene books removed from @Plano_Schools who REVIEWED and APPROVED these books. pic.twitter.com/tyZmTMhog6
— Citizens Defending Freedom (@cdfusa) September 28, 2023
WARNING! This post contains extremely explicit content!
Round 2 of @Plano_Schools reviewing and approving books with admittedly obscene content for their students. pic.twitter.com/DnN5yAZYNa
— Citizens Defending Freedom (@cdfusa) September 28, 2023
Round 3 of @Plano_Schools reviewing and approving books with admittedly obscene content for their students. This one is Identical by Ellen Hopkins. pic.twitter.com/iLKclf9BVJ
— Citizens Defending Freedom (@cdfusa) September 29, 2023
Identical by Ellen Hopkins was reviewed and retained by the district. The book details the story of the 16-year-old identical twin daughters of a district court judge who sexually assaults one of his girls:
“[W]hen Daddy finished, he burrowed his face into Kaeleigh’s hair and wept. 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?’”
Collateral by Ellen Hopkins was reviewed and retained by the district. The book includes graphic depictions of sex:
“He smiled. Say it again. Louder. I did, and when I did, in a single strong move, he slid one arm under me, flipped me over onto my stomach, tugged me to the foot of the bed. … Suddenly, he was inside of me, driving into me with animal ferocity. Wilderness, personified.”
Hooked by Catherine Greenman was also reviewed and retained despite its sexual content.
“He pushed me down on the bed, angling my body away from a bag of opened fish-tank gravel as a warm rush accosted my stomach. It never ceased to amaze me how quickly sex worked. ‘Nice intro to your bad boy,’ T said. Usually he played around with me down there before the main attraction. ‘Don’t mind me. I’ll just lie here.’ … ‘You like f***ing me in your new room?’ I whispered. ‘God, yes,’ he said.”
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas was reviewed and made available to high school seniors only:
“He palmed my breast, his thumb flicking over my nipple. 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.”
Other North Texas school districts have also drawn scrutiny from community members over the types of content made available to students in school libraries.
Dallas ISD, for instance, prompted outrage among parents and community members after keeping the book Jack of Hearts (and other parts) by Lev A.C. Rosen on library shelves for months after some of the sexually explicit content in the book was brought to the attention of the school board, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
“If it had been a movie, it would be rated X. It’s offensive and completely inappropriate for our children,” Tami Brown Rodriguez said to The Dallas Express back in February.
Dallas ISD seemingly pulled the title from shelves earlier this year, but it is unclear how many potentially inappropriate books remain.
