Following a nationwide trend toward banning books of a perceived offensive nature, books were removed from Mat-Su Valley schools last week. Those demanding book removals cite pornographic contents as the reasoning. The Mat-Su Library Committee drafted the secret list of books to be removed.
It is unclear how the initial list was developed and by what standards the books were evaluated for inclusion. The list includes The Bluest Eye, Forever, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Kite Runner, The Lovely Bones, Slaughterhouse Five, Water for Elephants and Wicked. Also included are books like Last Night at the Telegraph Club and The Perks of Being a Wallflower, with queer and homosexual characters.
Water for Elephants, in the words of its author, parallels Jacob’s journey in the Bible’s Book of Genesis. However, the Bible and all books about the Bible remain in the libraries.
District 7 Mat-Su School Board member Ted Swanson says, “Unfortunately, I do not have the list of books that have affirmatively been taken off the school library shelves. I do know that there was a list of controversial books in the Alaskan Watchman.” The Watchman, a right-wing publication, advocates using the BookLook.info as the standard.
Other books on the list focus on complicated subjects like gender identity, sexuality, drug use, sexual and physical abuse, and other topics.
There is no available information regarding how many times each of the removed titles have been checked out by students in the past. Students do not appear to have been included in the review process.
It is unclear if more books will be added to the list over time and by what standards they will be evaluated. Any parent, librarian, or community member can apply to be on the book review committee. At this time, there are no indications of how member selections will be made or how many members will be on the final committee.
The committee application can be found here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSctRwGuJTpnF2sVb005WB48MRXoOSh5a-dkywMMaH8KPlehiQ/viewform
