By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Ten more books may be removed from South Carolina public school libraries at the beginning of April following last week’s Instructional Materials Review Committee meeting.
The South Carolina Department of Education’s Instructional Materials Review Committee voted to remove 10 more books from all public-school libraries and classrooms during their meeting on March 13. The South Carolina Board of Education will decide the fate of these books with a final vote during their monthly meeting on April 1.
What are the books?
The 10 books that were up for review on Thursday were:
“Tricks” by Ellen Hopkins;
“Collateral” by Ellen Hopkins;
“Identical” by Ellen Hopkins;
“Lucky” by Alice Sebold;
“Living Dead Girl” by Elizabeth Scott;
“Last night at Telegraph Club” by Malinda Lo;
“Kingdom of Ash” by Sarah J. Maas;
“Empire of Storms” by Sarah J. Maas;
“Hopeless” by Colleen Hoover; and …
“Half of a Yellow Sun” by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie.
If the State Board of Education votes to ban the books on April 1, the books will be banned for all grade levels across the state.
The committee unanimously voted on Thursday to remove the 10 books solely off the “words on the page that have descriptions of sexual conduct.”
To date, the Board has reviewed 17 books and has removed 11 of them: “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky; “Flamer” by Mike Curato; “Damsel” by Elana Arnold; “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson; “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas; “A Court of Mist and Fury” by Sarah J. Maas; “A Court of Wings and Ruin” by Sarah J. Maas; “A Court of Frost and Starlight” by Sarah J. Maas; “Normal People” by Sally Rooney; and “Push” by Sapphire.
The book “Crank” by Ellen Hopkins was partially restricted as it can remain in high school libraries, but a parent or guardian must fill out an opt-in form for a student to check the book out.
Who is the complainant?
The 10 books in question are being removed for being in violation of Regulation 43-170, which states that any books that contain sexual descriptions of visual depictions should be removed from public schools in South Carolina.
All the books were part of the list of 97 books that was originally submitted to the Beaufort County School District (BCSD) by Beaufort resident Elizabeth “Ivie” Szalai in 2022 and were subsequently reviewed by the district and community in a process that lasted just longer than a year.
Szalai was successful in having four books that she filed complaints about in January – “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson, “Flamer” by Mike Curato, “Push” by Sapphire and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky – removed from South Carolina schools.
As the books in question were not removed during the BCSD’s recent review process, when they were submitted to be reviewed again locally and were sent to the state level to be reviewed there.
“My efforts suffered mostly losses until Regulation 43-170 was passed,” Szalai said during the meeting on March 13. “Many will say I play the victim, and I want the attention. Truthfully, it terrifies me to speak in front of people, but I will not let my fear overrule what I feel is right.”
Former Beaufort County Council member Mike Covert also spoke during the meeting on several occasions in support of removing the books based on their sexual content.
“If you can’t or aren’t allowed to read it in a church, why should the public tax dollars be allowed to put it in the public schools?” Covert said.
In the books’ defense
There were many who spoke against removing the books as well, including author Ellen Hopkins who had three books up for review during Thursday’s meeting.
While defending one of her novels, “Tricks,” she explained that her books were written to show teenagers what grooming practices of sexual traffickers look like and all her characters were based on real stories of children that she came across in her research.
“All five characters were inspired by real kids’ stories. My goal was to show other kids how they might be recruited – how easily it can happen,” Hopkins said. “My goal was to keep more kids off the streets and out of dangerous situations – to arm kids with knowledge. Yes, there is sex in the book, it’s about prostitution, but as with all my books it was written with my audience in mind.”
Hopkins said that if kids as young as 9 or 10 can be trafficked for sex, then older teenagers should be capable of reading about it and removing books with sexual references and pretending that it does not happen does not change the fact that sexual activity is a “normal part of adolescent development.”
“Fear driven politics is at the heart of the current book banning fad,” Hopkins said. “It’s not about protecting our children, it’s about keeping them ignorant.”
Beth Young, also from Beaufort County, spoke during the meeting regarding the book “Collateral,” also by Hopkins. Young spoke to the importance of allowing access to books that discuss relationships with people who are in the military and dealing with PTSD.
“I think it is so important to have books like this available for mature high school students to discuss and explore the emotional and psychological effects of war, of being in a relationship with someone who is in the military and serves in a hostile environment,” Young said. “While it does contain mature themes, it presents it in a way that promotes empathy, critical thinking and a deeper understanding of what real world issues are.”
The State Board of Education meets for their next full board meeting on April 1 where they will take a final vote to on whether uphold the recommendations from the Instructional Materials Review Committee.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
