On Dec. 19, the Cache Valley Board of Education decided to keep two challenged books on school library shelves after denying an appeal to have the books removed.
The board held a vote following a public comment period where parents, teachers, and students had the opportunity to voice their opinions on whether or not to remove “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou and “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood from school libraries.
The books were requested to be banned in the school district early in 2024, and two committees were formed to evaluate them. The committees ultimately determined that the books did not meet the criteria to be removed, but that decision was quickly appealed.
Parents who pushed for the appeal raised concerns during the public forum about explicit content, arguing the books weren’t appropriate for students. They repeatedly referred to passages in the books as pornography and multiple excerpts were read aloud from the books depicting graphic instances of rape and molestation. Hillary Puertes, a parent, said that this sort of content could not be nullified by any amount of good values and lessons taught within the rest of the book.
“Exposing pornography to minors is no trivial thing," she said. "They are being violated spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. It's violating their evolving beliefs, development, and relationships in a similar way that physical abuse does. This is not education. This has been and always will be, abuse.”
But Kathy Christiansen, one of the board members, argued the context of these graphic passages was an important part of this decision.
“I read the individual quotes from the books that were part of the challenge," she said. "They were disturbing, I thought, but I wanted to read the context in which [they were] put. So I got the books, and when I read the sections, there wasn't anything erotic, there wasn't anything titillating, there wasn't anything sexually arousing. And so my viewpoint is that [this is] not pornography.”
During the forum, more than one student referenced the book “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury, sharing the lessons they had learned about the negative impacts of censorship and the importance of intellectual freedom. They stressed that difficult topics must continue to be discussed otherwise the information will be lost.
Megan Miller, a former educator and parent of four, asked the board to honor the collective hundreds of hours spent by teachers, parents, librarians, and curriculum experts, saying that these two books had already been read, reviewed, and ultimately retained by the committees. She spoke of both books, voicing her love for them and sharing the lessons she had learned from reading them.
“Both books have difficult content, and neither book is for every reader, but both books are for some readers," she said. "If you fear the content of a book, talk to your own children about not reading that book, but don't remove it from students who may have experienced similar traumas, or from students who may encounter people in their lifetimes that have experienced similar traumas. Let them learn.”
