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I was talking to a librarian in Tulsa who said they pulled 'Maus' from the high school section last year.
She said the district called it 'inappropriate imagery' but hearing her say that made me realize how a vague label can erase a whole history lesson, so what's the most recent book you've seen pulled from a shelf near you?
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adamellis2mo ago
Was it just Maus or did they take other stuff too? That's so messed up, calling it inappropriate when it's literally about real history. I saw a bunch of LGBTQ+ books get cleared from the middle school library in my town last month, all labeled "not age appropriate." Feels like they're just trying to hide anything that makes some people uncomfortable, which is scary.
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the_ben2mo ago
You're right about the pattern, @adamellis. For the record, the Tennessee school board did remove just Maus from its eighth-grade module. But you've hit on the bigger point. These separate cases in different towns are part of a wider push to label important topics as just "not appropriate," which does feel like hiding history and people.
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hayden5871mo ago
Hold on, you're missing the point. Parents and school boards have a job to decide what's right for kids. A book with naked cartoon mice and heavy violence, even about a real event, might not be right for every 13 year old. It's not hiding history, it's about when to teach it. Same with those other books. If a book's content is too mature for the age group, moving it isn't banning it, it's just being careful.
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