A teacher at a Houston-area public high school has been keeping a secret bookshelf of books that have been challenged or banned for potentially containing inappropriate content.
Hood Feminism, The Poet X, and Gabi: A Girl in Pieces are just some of the publications a group of teens claimed were secretly available to students at a high school near Houston, according to reporting by NPR. These books have been flagged for inappropriate or problematic content for school-aged children.
For instance, Hood Feminism contains potentially divisive themes pertaining to race and gender, The Poet X is said to contain vulgar language and discussions on masturbation, and Gabi: A Girl in Pieces reportedly features substance abuse, sexual assault, and self-harm.
The Houston-area teacher began her secret bookshelf in late 2021 in response to former Rep. Matt Krause (R-Fort Worth) issuing a list of books he sought to ban for potentially “mak[ing] students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex,” according to NPR.
“The books that make you uncomfortable are the books that make you think,” the teacher told NPR, refusing to have her name published for fear of retaliation.
The students interviewed by NPR agreed, claiming that reading the books was both validating and eye-opening.
“I just see, especially in my community, a lot of women being talked down upon, and those books [were] really nice to read,” said one teen girl, whose name was not published by the news outlet.
“Just to see Latinos, like LGBTQ. That’s not something you really see in our community, or it’s not very well represented at all,” argued another teenager.
Last year’s READER Act, HB 900, was just one of several measures passed in Texas to keep what some have deemed to be sexually explicit materials or educationally unsuitable books out of school libraries.
As extensively covered by The Dallas Express, concerned parents and activist groups have mobilized to see school libraries statewide enact policies to prevent books containing such content from entering collections. The American Library Association found that Texas led the nation in book challenges, with 93 raised in 2022 involving over 2,349 books.
The issue of allegedly inappropriate books on library shelves has also been a concern in Dallas ISD. Some parents have claimed the school board has been unresponsive to their calls to pull books they considered “pornographic,” as covered by The Dallas Express.
The READER Act has been challenged over First Amendment concerns. A lawsuit was filed by book vendors that claimed the law was “unconstitutionally vague,” and a district judge issued an injunction in agreement, which was recently upheld in a U.S. appeals court.
