ASHEVILLE – A trend sweeping school districts across the country is also impacting the Buncombe County School Board: banning books.
The Buncombe County School Board unanimously voted at its Feb. 8 meeting to ban Ellen Hopkins' “Trick” from schools in the district. The 2009 New York Times bestselling novel about five teenagers who fall into prostitution will no longer be available to students in county schools.
According to a Jan. 5 memo to Superintendent Rob Jackson, the decision follows a multi-step process that began in October 2023 when community members and three parents took on a 10-book challenge at Enka High School. was the final part of the process. Most of the books have become award-winning books or bestsellers. BCS spokesperson Timothy Reeves told the Citizen Times on February 19 that the group recommended that Enka High remove the following books:
- “Impulse” by Ellen Hopkins, published in 2007.
- “Beloved” by Toni Morrison, published in 1987.
- “Burned” by Ellen Hopkins, published in 2006.
- “Doing It! Let's Talk About Sex” by Hannah Whitton, published in 2017.
- “Nineteen Minutes” by Jody Pickult, published in 2007.
- “Perfect” by Ellen Hopkins, published in 2011.
- “Sold” by Patricia McCormick, published in 2006.
- “Trick” Ellen Hopkins;
- “Water for Elephants” by Sarah Gruen, published 2006.and
- Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory McGuire, published in 1995.
Enka High School's Media Technology Advisory Committee reviewed the books that were the subject of complaints in accordance with school policy. Reeves told the Citizen Times that “Doing It! Let's Talk About Sex,” “Nineteen Minutes” and “Wicked: Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” were removed.
The Enka District MTAC team was asked to review four books that remained at Enka High School: “Trick,” “Perfect,” “Sold,” and “Giving Water to the Elephant.” The committee moved to remove “Tricks” pending board review, but chose to keep the remaining three titles.
“This book tells the diverse experiences of teens with sex and sex trafficking. The committee recognizes that sex trafficking is a relevant and timely issue. However, I felt that the book was unbalanced in its depiction of the subject,” the memo says of “Trick.”
“The committee's opinion is that this book normalizes, if not glamorizes, unhealthy sexual behavior among teenagers. The overall tone of this book is It was very dark and disturbing and lacked a balanced emotional perspective. The book also contained an excessive amount of explicit content, especially for high school readers without guidance. Its appropriateness is questionable.”
The notes included passages from each book. Many of the texts reviewed by Citizen Times contained sexual content. At the end of each book section was a profanity tally. It is unclear which entity marked the text or compiled the tally from the notes.
“'Trick' is just poetic filth,” Enka High School parent Kim Poteet told the school board during public comment. She was one of four parents who carried out censorship activities. “What we put into the hearts of our children matters. I hope and pray that you will see that our children deserve better educational materials than the 'tricks' in the school library.” I am.”
The school board was initially tasked with approving the ban for the enka district, but school board members made a motion to have the book removal apply to all schools in Buncombe.
School board member Amy Churchill said she was reluctant to remove the book from the library.
“It's a slippery slope to start banning books, especially when books are used for culture wars, talking points, and political movements, or people surf the internet to find out which books to oppose without reading the books. ” she says. “I really have a hard time when arguments start that basically give up freedom.
According to PEN America, there were 3,362 book bans in the United States during the 2022-2023 school year, an increase of 33% from the previous year.
A spokesperson for Asheville City Schools previously told the Citizen Times that the district does not have a banned books list.
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Mitchell Black covers Buncombe County and health care for the Citizen-Times. Email mblack@citizentimes.com or follow us on Twitter @MitchABlack. Support local journalism by subscribing to Citizen Times.