Madison County School Board releases list of restricted books

The Madison County School Board has provided a response to parents who inquired about a number of books in school libraries that they believe are inappropriate for children to have access to at school.

MCS has created three categories of books into which the titles in question have been divided: Grades 6-12 Full Circulation, Grades 9-12 Full Circulation Only, and Controlled Circulation with Parental Consent Grades 9-12. The following books fall into each category:

Complete circulation from the sixth to the twelfth year:

assemble me

The benefits of being an octopus

Touch the spirit bear

ugly

Full circulation for grades 9-12 only:

All American Boys

Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person

Dear Martin

kite runner

Love, hate and other filters

Discovering Wes Moore

Talk

Traffic controlled with parental authorization From 9 to 12:

Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

chinese born american

Beloved

Eleanor and Park

I’m not your perfect Mexican girl

let me hear a rhyme

out of darkness

Queer, there and everywhere

The bluest eye

The hate you give

kite runner is the only explicit book left in full circulation off the list and is required reading for some schools in the district. Most of the others in full circulation were on the list because of the topic of critical race theory.

MCS parent Rylon Thompson said online access has also been restored so parents can see what books are in the libraries. He said he and his wife, Brandi, felt everything was on track and that there would be a good relationship with the school district going forward.

“I hope they will allow parents to have as much information as possible about the books students have access to,” Thompson said. “I feel like this is going to be an ongoing process to constantly monitor what is available in school libraries and school policies with regards to the gender situation in toilets. We are monitoring this closely to see what what they do with this type of situation.