These are the books most challenged by Texas school districts – By Ariana Garcia (MySA) / December 18, 2021
From “The Handmaid’s Tale” to “V for Vendetta” some book titles have been more popularly targeted than others in Texas schools.
Texas school districts are facing a wave of book challenges from local lawmakers and parents, all of whom are aiming to keep specific titles about topics they deem inappropriate out of the hands of students.
This process was started by an October letter drafted by Republican state representative Matt Krause to Texas school districts in which he questioned whether a list of 850 books he believed could “make students feel uncomfortable” were stocked in school libraries and classrooms. Most of the books listed in the 16-page spreadsheet deal with race and racism, sex education, and LGBTQ topics.
In November, Gov. Greg Abbott followed with instructions sent to the Texas Education Agency asking them to notify him of any “instance of pornography being provided to minors under the age of 18 for prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.”
Both messages were sent amid debates throughout Texas and many other states about how subjects such as race and racism should be discussed in schools. On Dec. 2, the Lone Star State also installed a so-called critical race theory law prohibiting teachers from discussing “widely debated and currently controversial issue of public policy or social affairs.”