Pender Co. Board of Education instructs removal of over 40 books during review

PENDER COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) - At its Feb. 14 meeting, the Pender County Board of Education voted unanimously to instruct the removal of over 40 books from Pender County School media centers while the books undergo review.

“Of the books that are being reviewed, none have been officially challenged by a parent,” stated Pender County Schools in a release. “As part of our continued collection development process, we review materials routinely to determine if they should be weeded. We weed based on content, physical condition, duplicate/superfluous copies, and use.”

Among the books included, two are not listed in the system that PCS uses to inventory periodicals. Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer” and Alison Bechdel’s “Are You My Mother” are not listed in the system.

In their release, PCS refers to section C of Policy 3200, which states:

If any of the materials on the list were to be challenged, Policy 3210 would additionally go into effect.

“During the most recent Pender County Schools Board of Education meeting the Board made the decision to remove books from the shelves of media centers while they are being reviewed,” said Chair of the Pender County Schools Board of Education Ken Smith. “This review is a routine process that is part of Board Policy and none of the books that are being reviewed have been challenged. A list of books was brought to the attention of the Board, we felt by reviewing those on this list it would help to alleviate any apprehension concerning the content in our school media centers, but again, all books are reviewed per Board policy.”

According to a list provided by PCS, the books under review are:

• A Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
• A Court of Mist and Fury - Sarah J. Maas
• A Court of Silver Flames - Sarah J. Maas
• A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas
• All Boys Aren’t Blue - George M. Johnson
• All the Thing We Do in the Dark - Saundra Mitchell
• Allegedly - Tiffany Jackson
• Are You My Mother? - Allison Bechdel
• Boy Girl Boy - Ron Koertge
• Cemetery Boys - Aiden Thomas
• Crank - Ellen Hopkins
• Damsel - Elana Arnold
• Darius the Great Deserves Better - Adib Khorram
• Dreaming in Cuban - Cristina Garcia
• Empire of Storms - Sarah J. Maas
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
• Forever... - Judy Blume
• Gender Queer - Maia Kobabe
• George - Alex Gino
• Go Ask Alice - Anonymous
• I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter - Erika Sanchez
• Identical - Ellen Hopkins
• Last Night at the Telegraph Club - Malinda Lo
• Lawn Boy - Jonathan Evison
• Looking for Alaska - John Green
• Me Earl and the Dying Girl - Jesse Andrews
• Melissa - Alex Gino
• None of the Above - I. W. Gregorio
• Out of Darkness - Ashley Hope Perez
• Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
• Rethinking Normal - Katie Rain Hill
• Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
• Sold - Patricia McCormick
• Speak - Laurie H. Anderson
• Speak: the graphic novel - Laurie H. Anderson
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian - Sherman Alexie
• The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein
• The Black Flamingo - Dean Atta
• The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
• Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher
• This One Summer - Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
• What Girls Are Made Of - Elana K. Arnold
• When I Was the Greatest - Jason Reynolds”

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