Briefly, "The Day The Crayons Quit" was banned in Katy, TX because one crayon was depicted without its wrapper and thus, naked. Well, okay then.
Posted by
Qale
Sep 15 '23, 10:57
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Katy ISD has remained silent on the whereabouts of $93,000 in new books held for review and the reasons 14 additional books were removed from shelves, despite a public pledge of transparency on book banning.
Of the seven Katy ISD board members, only Rebecca Fox would discuss her opinion on the move, saying the new policy may need to be revisited if exhaustive book reviews continue.
In August and September, an internal committee found 14 books, including titles by Dr. Seuss, Eric Carle and Judy Blume, to be inappropriate for children for reasons the district would not make public.
Prior to enacting the new policy, Katy ISD removed four books in 2022, eight in 2021 and four in the first seven months of 2023.
This year the district expanded the terms under which a book could be pulled for review, adding "nudity" in the definition of inappropriate material. For the first time, six elementary school books have been removed.
The book “No, David!” — winner of Caldecott Honor Book and several other national awards — is one of them.
The cartoon David takes every opportunity to misbehave, but is always reminded his parents love him anyway, according to the book's publisher, Scholastic Inc. At one point in the story, a cartoon David jumps out of the tub and is pictured running off without clothes on.
Drew Daywalt’s “The Day the Crayons Quit" was one of 44 books flagged for review in August that was later retained. An illustration depicts a beige crayon that has lost its wrapper, becoming “naked.”
Fox, who voted in favor of the book review policy, said it's an example of how implementation has deviated from the policy's intent.
“Nudity was added to the policy, but a book about a crayon with a wrapper is not nudity. That’s not what was intended by the policy,” she said. “If this continues, we may have to revisit the definitions of the policy.”
Book banning has become a fiercely contested topic at both the state and national level.
Texas lawmakers in the 88th Legislature passed a law requiring library vendors to rate whether or not every book sold to a school district is “sexually explicit” or “sexually relevant." President Joe Biden earlier this year blasted politicians who "try to score political points by banning books."
Katy ISD's policy calls for transparency and parent involvement during the book review process. However, the district's communications office and Board President Victor Perez would not answer questions about why the books were removed, except to send emails stating the removals are in accordance with the policy. Neither answered questions about how the policy is being implemented.
The revised policy gave the board authority to bypass committee review to challenge and ban books, the Chronicle previously reported. However, Perez said the board didn’t remove the books. “It is not the board’s intention that any traditional, harmless, cartoon-like books be affected,” Perez said.
Other titles removed from elementary schools include Eric Carle's illustrated classic "Draw Me a Star," Judy Blume's coming of age novel "Are you there God? It's me, Margaret," Dr. Seuss’ “Wacky Wednesday,” and Robert Munsch’s “The Paper Bag Princess,” all of which have been in circulation for more than 40 years.
Simon & Schuster, publishers of the newly-removed book "Crank," called the book banning trend "unprecedented in scope," adding, "Simon & Schuster stands against censorship in all its forms and supports authors, librarians, educators and booksellers who work to defend and expand access to books for all."
The amended policy requires titles of any incoming new books to be submitted to the board for review 30 days before they're ordered. In June, the board of trustees mandated that already-purchased incoming books be placed in storage to await review. The list included $93,000 worth of books, including dictionaries and textbooks.
District and school board officials would not say where those books are now or comment on the process or timeline for reviewing and potentially banning those titles.
Shirley Robinson, executive director of the Texas Library Association, said some other Texas districts have asked library staff to stop ordering books or arbitrarily put books in storage until they can be reviewed for "sexually relevant" or "sexually explicit" content.
“The problem is, whether or not a book is sexual is incredibly subjective, and what one person considers vulgar another might disagree, and in the meantime, kids don’t have the books.”
Former Katy ISD board member Bill Lacy called the board's amended book policy an "overreach of power," noting the district already allowed parents to stop their own children from checking out books.
"Auditing books and pulling books or creating a list of books to review is not what a trustee is supposed to do," Lacy said. "A trustee is simply supposed to be that 30,000-foot overview of what the district is doing. ...You are not supposed to have some type of an agenda."
Fox said the board is fixated on book banning and other topics, like transgender issues, that don't improve academic outcomes. “We as a board need to be focusing on the issues that affect academic success, she said.
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