WHITE OAK – A committee of White Oak ISD school faculty members and parents voted 4-1 during a Monday meeting to reclassify a library book, saying it is vulgar and sexually explicit.
Following a meeting of the White Oak ISD Library Materials Challenge Committee, a book titled “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky will be moved from the school library to the public section of the library, making it unavailable to students during the school day.
The school librarian, however, said the decision still amounts to a book ban.
“It’s been banned from the high school,” Librarian Lori Davis told the News-Journal. “Any sort of restriction or relocation is another form of banning.”
Library book challenges and book bans have become more common across the country in recent years, with books discussing LGBTQ topics among the most frequently challenged and banned, according to the American Library Association.
“Wallflower” tells the story of Charlie, a high school freshman who navigates the grief of being molested by his aunt when he was younger. The book details Charlie’s coming of age and his struggles with identity, sexuality, drug abuse and more. The book has won numerous awards and was adapted into a 2012 movie of the same name, which was rated PG-13.
The book, however, is more graphic than the film, committee members said Monday.
Brett Thompson, a father, told fellow committee members that he took issue with the book’s discussion of sexual positions and acts, sexual abuse, drug abuse and foul language. He said those topics are harmful to school-age children.
Other committee members expressed the same concerns, saying children and young adults could be negatively influenced by exposure to those topics. They said the book glorifies illegal sexual behavior and activity.
Stacy Shellhorse, a district English teacher, voted to reclassify the book but noted that it discusses real-life struggles young people go through: identity confusion, relationship issues and difficulty coping with trauma and abuse.
“The book can be seen as harmful for some students, not necessarily all students, but it just normalizes the drugs, the alcohol, the sex,” she said. “There were so many teen issues present in that storyline, and some of them were portrayed vaguely, which allowed the readers to identify with the characters if they’re struggling like that.”
Thompson had seen the movie before reading the book, and he questioned what might be wrong with the book. But after reading the book as a member of the challenge committee – which committee members are required to do – he decided he didn’t want his children to read that kind of content.
“Not that they’re not already hearing that kind of stuff, but we shouldn’t be providing avenues for them to be reading about it,” he said.
Davis was the only committee member who voted against reclassifying or relocating the book. She said the book is not harmful “because it is not meant to cause sexual stimulation.”
“It is not glorifying any of the recreational use of drugs because they talk about how one of the boys gets in trouble when he’s giving LSD to Charlie,” Davis said. “It is not meant to show kids how to do certain things.”
Shellhorse read a passage from the book discussing a sexual encounter between Charlie and a woman, which she said was a comparatively “mild” passage in the book.
After deliberating and discussing the book at length, the board voted to remove it from the school library and reassign it to the public library.
The White Oak Library is one of 23 in Texas that serves as both a school library and a public library, Davis said. As a result of the book’s reclassification, students will not be able to check the book out during the school day. Members of the public, including students, can check the book out after 3:45 p.m. if they have a public library card.
The public library is open from 3:45 to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday during the school year and 1 to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday during the summer.
Several parents, students and faculty members attended Monday’s half-hour meeting, which was relatively quiet. Book challenge committees are appointed by the school principal to hear individual challenges; the committees have no permanent members like a school board does. Committee members include parents, faculty and staff.
Committee members must read a challenged book completely and discuss its contents before deciding whether it can remain in the school library, be restricted or be removed.
At the end of the meeting, Jonna Anderson spoke to the board and the audience as people walked out of the room.
A White Oak graduate, Anderson said she had a classmate who was sexually abused by her father, but nobody in their graduating class knew so for 20 years. Classmates bullied the girl because she often smelled bad and was unkempt. The victim ended up killing her abusive father.
Anderson said books such as “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” can help people like her classmate know that they are not alone and that help is available to them.
“If she had had a book available to her, she might not have killed him,” Anderson said. “If we all had had a book like this available to us, we might not have treated her the way we did. She might have received help. Her father might have received help.
“I want you all to know how very important it is for this material to be available to our students.”
Parents can challenge books in the school library, and those challenges must be considered by a committee within 90 days, according to district policy. Parents also can choose to restrict what kind of books their children can read at the library.
Davis said two other book challenges are pending, and both books have LGBTQ themes.
