Beaufort County book review saga comes to a close. Here are the 5 banned books
Thousands of pages and hundreds of volunteers later, Beaufort County is closing the book on their material review process, ending with a review committee vote to ban a fifth book from schools: “Beautiful” by Amy Reed.
The banned books account for about 5% of the 97 books Superintendent Frank Rodriguez pulled from school libraries in October 2022. The books were taken off shelves after a small group of parents read sex scenes aloud at a school board meeting and threatened legal action. A couple of weeks later a member of the group filed a police report alleging distribution of obscene materials to children. Local far-right politician Mike Covert emailed the list of books to Rodriguez before he pulled them off shelves.
However, a local parent compiled the list based off of Booklooks.org, a rating system with ties to Moms for Liberty, a conservative American political non-profit that advocates for “parental rights.” Nationally the group has also advocated against school curricula that mention LGBTQ+ rights, critical race theory and discrimination.
Processes similar to Beaufort County’s book review and subsequent banning are playing out in districts across the country as parents advocate for more control over what public schools teach their children and call for sweeping reform. During the first half of the 2022-23 school year there were 1,477 instances of individual books banned, 28% more books banned across the U.S. compared to the previous six months, according to PEN America. The organization found book bans are most prevalent in Texas, Florida, Missouri, Utah and South Carolina.
It’s costly and time consuming. The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette projected Beaufort County schools spent at least $7,275 to review 97 titles. One of the titles on the list of 97 books, “Breathless” by Jennifer Niven, wasn’t reviewed because there were never any copies in school libraries.
“Beautiful” follows a thirteen-year-old girl who becomes addicted to drugs and alcohol while trying to fit in at her new school. It was flagged by the complainants based on analysis from Booklooks.org for sexual activities, drug abuse and alcohol use by minors, profanity and self-harm, including anorexia.
The other four banned books are:
“The Haters” by Jesse Andrews
“Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult
“It Ends With Us” by Colleen Hoover
“Forever for a Year” by B.T. Gottfried
Only three people attended the review committee that banned “Beautiful,” same as for “Forever for a Year” and “Nineteen Minutes,” handing the decision of whether to ban books to the few who attended. The district designed the committees to have seven people, but according to an Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette analysis of the committees in September over 17% of participants didn’t show up.
Here is the last round of review committee decisions:
“A Lesson in Vengeance” by Victoria Lee — returned to grades 9-12
“YOLO” by Lauren Myracle — returned to grades 9-12
“The Infinite Moment of Us” by Lauren Myracle — returned to grades 9-12
“Layla” by Colleen Hoover — returned to grades 9-12
“grl2grl” by Julie Anne Peters — returned to grades 9-12
