Be careful, Lenny! Classics like “Of Mice and Men” and “Brave New World” are among the books the conservative group Moms for Liberty would like to keep away from younger readers.
After a librarian mentioned in a state legislative committee hearing yesterday that a group had a list of books they were trying to get removed from the shelves of local libraries, we went on the hunt for it.
This is a list that Moms for Liberty of Lonoke County consulted when they tried to get books taken out of Cabot Public Schools in recent years.
The list of 155 books includes many favorite and familiar titles. The list also appears to include the date the books were added to a school district book database and their recommended age for reading.
Here are just a few of the 155 titles:
“Beloved” by Toni Morrison
“Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck
“The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini
“The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood
“Me, Earl and the Dying Girl” by Jesse Andrews
“Black Lives Matter” by Laurie Hilstrom
“The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas – This book was misspelled on the list as The Hate You Give.
“Maus” by Art Spiegelman
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky
“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien
“Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley
“Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen
“Rape on Campus” by Bruno Leone
“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Foer
We have reported previously on attempts to ban books, as well as on Moms for Liberty of Lonoke County. One member of the group, Missy Bosch, was banned from Cabot Public Schools for musing about shooting a librarian. Bosch testified in support of a bill that could criminalize librarians yesterday.
The bill, SB81 sponsored by Dan Sullivan (R-Jonesboro), failed in the House Judiciary Committee yesterday but an amended version is expected to be heard in the same committee tomorrow.