A Charlotte-Mecklenburg panel created to review book challenges voted Tuesday to remove one challenged book from all schools and keep two others on high school shelves.
The one removed, “A Court of Frost and Starlight” by Sarah J. Maas, is the only one drawing much interest from student readers, but the panel decided on a split vote that the book didn’t have enough literary merit to offset the sex.
The other two, “Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts)” by L.C. Rosen and “Tricks” by Ellen Hopkins, had even more sexually explicit and troubling content, panelists said, but they decided both books had enough value to keep them in high schools.
The seven-person group, made up of central-office specialists and parents, said these books had them all struggling to weigh the pros and cons. They’re among eight books that local Moms for Liberty President Brooke Weiss has challenged at her daughter’s school, Ardrey Kell High. So far the school’s panel has voted to keep five, which Weiss appealed to the district panel, and to remove “Haunted” by Chuck Palahniuk, a collection of related short stories that contain sexual content.
Last week the districtwide panel upheld Ardrey Kell’s decision to keep two others.
Here’s what the group looked at Tuesday:
Dystopian fantasy
“A Court of Frost and Starlight” is the fourth book in Sarah Maas’ “Court of Thrones and Roses” series, which is not designated for young adult readers The whole series is on national lists that adults are using to challenge books across the country.
“It’s a dystopian fantasy novel, wildly popular,” says CMS library services director Kim Ray. The series starts off fairly tame, she says, but “it gets a little more sexual as you move through.”
Ray said 22 schools have the “Frost and Starlight” book, which has been checked out a total of 62 times. The panel voted 4-3 to remove it from all CMS schools.
“This one definitely has some explicit sexual content and the team wasn’t convinced that that was related to moving the story along,” Ray said afterward.
Although the book won’t be in school libraries, students will be able to get an electronic version through the district’s arrangement with public libraries, Ray said.
Free-verse prostitution
“Tricks” by Ellen Hopkins, came out in 2009 and is written in free verse, which Ray said was off-putting when she started reading it. Only seven CMS high schools have a copy, Ray said.
“This one is not a high-circulation book, and I’ll be honest, I had to stop and tell myself, ‘You're going to get used to this structure soon.’ Because I get frustrated and I know teenagers, not a lot will be likely to push through that,” Ray said.
Panelists said it was difficult to read about child prostitution and sexual abuse, but they said it could be important for teens to read about how people from all walks of life got pulled into prostitution. They decided to keep it in libraries.
Explicit sex instruction
“Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts),” a 2018 young-adult novel by L.C. Rosen, combines sex-advice columns ostensibly written by a sexually active high school student with a story about the columnist being stalked and threatened by an obsessive secret admirer. It’s designed to help teens feel comfortable with and explore their own sexual identity, as long as they’re respectful of themselves and their partners and use condoms.
It includes instructions on communicating about sexual desires and setting limits, and also on the mechanics of oral and anal sex, bondage and losing one’s virginity. Panelists said the book made them uncomfortable, but it could be valuable to students who have questions — and especially to LGBTQ students who don’t see themselves reflected in other books. They also voiced concerns that it glorifies casual sex while drinking alcohol and smoking weed, which they said isn’t safe even with condoms. Ultimately they decided not to remove the book. Ray noted that it’s in eight schools, and at six of those it’s never been checked out.
Improving the process
Weiss, who has said she sees no value in “Jack of Hearts,” said she’ll ask the superintendent to review the decision to keep that book on shelves. But she says she left the meeting impressed with the thoughtful discussion the panelists had and development of a districtwide process for parents to be heard.
“This is all I wanted,” she said. “They didn’t have it before. I think they are developing a much better process that involves parents.”
Weiss has asked for schools to create a rating system, with some books designated for check-out only with parents’ permission.
Ray says CMS has always allowed parents to notify school libraries that they don’t want their children to check out certain books. She said the district is now working harder to make sure parents know about that and are aware of controversial books on the shelves.
“We want parents to know that we want to work with them, we respect their right to make that decision while ensuring open access to resources for other students,” she said after the meeting.
She said CMS is also working to make sure all schools have parents involved in selection of new library material — and in middle and high schools that students are involved.
“That’s not new, but the accountability piece for that is,” Ray said.
