Earlier this week, the South Carolina State Board of Education voted to keep a few literary classics like “To Kill A Mockingbird,” "1984" and "Romeo & Juliet" on school library shelves — but banned several other books.
As a result of the decision, four popular books by fantasy author Sarah J. Maas, "Damsel" by Elana Arnold, "Ugly Love" by Colleen Hoover and "Normal People" by Sally Rooney will no longer appear in South Carolina schools.
The review was the result of a new state regulation that aims to remove books from schools statewide if they are not deemed age-appropriate, or if they include descriptions of “sexual content.”
Ethan Hutt, an associate professor at UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Education, told WFAE that, while states may direct school curriculum, it’s uncommon to see a state, rather than a school district, move to restrict or prohibit specific materials.
More often, states try to provide recommendations or guidelines for local boards or districts to make their own decisions.
“We try to usually empower our educators or empower our local school boards, and what seems out of step about this is like, it’s the opposite," Hutt said. "Rather than directing attention, or encouraging, they’re simply trying to remove possibilities from schools, and that’s much less in step with normal course.”
The state board followed the recommendations of a new instructional materials committee, which reviewed 11 books that had track records of generating debate in multiple districts.
Several states have implemented new laws that create state-level processes for challenging books in recent years, including Utah, Florida and Idaho.
