ST. LOUIS – Four St. Louis area school districts have the same books currently being challenged: “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” “Crank,” and “The Blues Eye.”
Fox 2 recently reported on concerns over certain books at Lindbergh School District, including “Crank,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Girl Who Fell from the Sky,” “The Bluest Eye,” “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” This Book is Gay,” and “Gender Queer.”
Fox 2 reached out to other area school districts to find out what books are being challenged there. In Francis Howell School District, there are a total of five books have been formally challenged.
- “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson
- “Crank” by Ellen Hopkins
- “Monday’s Not Coming” by Tiffany D. Jackson
- “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
- “George” by Alex Gino
The book “All Boys Aren’t Blue” has already gone through a reconsideration committee and it was retained, according to Jennifer Jolls, communications director for the district. The other four books are still going through the reconsideration process.
“The books are not removed from the library while the challenge is taking place,” she said.
Any Francis Howell School District patron can file a formal book challenge. Once a book challenge is filed, a committee is then formed, which is made up of the person making the complaint, an administrator from a building with the book, teachers from the building with the book, librarians, parents/patrons, a board of education member, students (if it is a high school book), and the director of curriculum and assessment.
The committee members read the book and consider it as a whole rather than just the scenes that are found objectionable. After discussing where the book fits within the education program, the committee votes to either retain the book, retain the book with restrictions, or not retain the book, according to Joll.
Rockwood School District has nine books going through the challenge process.
- “Where I End and You Begin” by Preston Norton
- “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe
- “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson
- “The Haters” by Jesse Andrews, Michael Crouch, et al.
- “Crank” by Ellen Hopkins
- “Looking for Alaska” by John Green
- “This One Summer” by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
- “Heroine” by Mindy McGinnis
- “The Breakaways” by Cathy G. Johnson
Meetings regarding those books will take place within the next month, according to David Morrison, RSD communications coordinator.
“Batman: The Brave and the Bold “Clobbered by Clayface!” and “The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas” went through the challenge process earlier this year. Both books were retained without restriction.
Wentzville School District currently has three book challenges.
- “Lawn Boy” Jonathan Evison
- “The Bluest” Eye Toni Morrison
- “Gabi, A Girl In Pieces” by Isabel Quintero
Listed below are books that have been removed within the district without going through the review process:
- “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson
- “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic” by Alison Bechdel
- “Heavy: An American Memoir” by Kiese Laymon
Parkway School District told Fox 2 that the district does not currently have any formal requests to remove books from its libraries.
