The Columbia County Library Board determined the fate of five books up for reconsideration during the meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 10.
The five that were reconsidered were “The Black Flamingo” by Dean Atta, “I’ll Give You the Sun” by Sandy Nelson, “Teach Your Dragon About Diversity” by Steve Herman, “True You: A Gender Journey” by Gwen Agna and “The Rainbow Parade” by Emily Nielson.
The first book discussed was “The Black Flamingo,” which is about Michael, a mixed-race teen growing up in London who is gay. He starts to figure out who he is as he gets older and explores his sexuality. He eventually finds the Drag Society and where he belongs. Board member Tripp Calloway, who was one of the committee members to review the book, gave his opinion.
“Throughout there’s implications and descriptions of sexual activity,” Calloway said. “My take on it is, I think it would be best suited in the adult section of the library just given some of the sexual content you wouldn’t see on broadcast television prior to 9 o’clock or hear on the radio.”
Board member Marlena Bergeron, who was also on the committee to review the book, said that there was controversial content, including profanity, sexual content, drug use and bullying. But she thought it should be kept in the young adult (YA) section because the book is targeted toward teenagers, which is what the YA section is for.
Board member Lindsey Brantley also thought it should be moved to the adult section, citing the sexual content and underage drug issues mentioned in the book.
With a 5-1 vote, library board members voted to move “The Black Flamingo” to the adult section of the library, with Bergeron not voting in favor of moving the book.
The second book up for reconsideration was “I’ll Give You the Sun” by Sandy Nelson. This book is about twins Noah and Jude and is about their lives over the years. Brantley said it contains some descriptions of sexual activity, including a 13 or 14-year-old girl having a forced encounter with a boy that is four years older than her.
“It’s a lot more explicit with its profanity,” Brantley said. “It’s got the f-word pretty frequently…pretty much every curse word, plus the f-word about 12 times I believe. It was harder for me to get through as far as entertaining value, but I got through, I had to listen to the audio for the last half of the book.”
Calloway felt along the same lines as Brantley, mentioning one of the characters taking a parent’s pain meds and another character drinking underage. While the depictions of sex might be more appropriate for 16 to 18 years old, it’s not appropriate for younger teens, he said.
For Bergeron, “I’ll Give You the Sun” was “one of the best books I’ve read this year,” she said. She added that there’s a lot going on in the book and it’s told and written in a great way, before stating she would like to see a copy not only in the YA section, but also in the adult section.
“The troubling sections included statuary rape, they included drug use, those are all major issues,” Bergeron said. “If Bill [the person who asked for the reconsideration] were here, in a very polite way I would’ve asked him would you have had a problem with this book if one of the twins wasn’t gay. I think for me that is a big underlying question for all these books we’re talking about because a lot of these books have issues in them that we as parents would want to talk to our kids about regardless if one of the characters was gay or from the LGBTQ community. I think that’s sort of my takeaway question for all of these.”
Board chair Russell Wilder asked if this was the book that the person asking for reconsideration didn’t read, and the answer was yes. He stated he has a hard time reconsidering a book when the person making the request did not read the book.
The library board voted 5-1 to move “I’ll Give You the Sun” to the adult section, with Bergeron not voting in favor of moving the book.
The third book was “Teach Your Dragon About Diversity” by Steve Herman. The challenger was fine with this book remaining where it was, so the board did not take any action regarding it.
The fourth book, “True You: A Gender Journey” by Gwen Agna, was challenged by Priscilla Bence. This book features testimonials from children about how they feel about themselves. Bence read a quote that she felt “gives into the trans fad that we’re going through right now. Bence read several more quotes from the book that she felt were concerning, including involving children questioning their sexuality. There were quotes about being born a boy, but the child isn’t, quotes about being born a girl and the child is.
“This put a huge unwarranted responsibility on a child to decide how they feel and want to be,” Bence said.
Bence said she would put the book in the adult section possibly under abnormal psychology or social science.
When discussing “True You: A Gender Journey,” Bergeron said parents have the responsibility to screen what their children pick-up to look at while at the library and can put back anything they don’t agree with.
“I don’t think any parent has the right to remove a children’s book if it’s been listed as an appropriate book for children and is a best seller,” Bergeron said. “Then we have a 1% part of the population this book would apply to. Because I think we take, so my recommendation is keep it in the children’s section, make sure parent’s know they should screen books first. We don’t want to reshelve anything in a different place to make anybody who would get that book, because their child is going through a journey, feel like they’re not a part of the community or they’re in a separate place where people can target them.”
Calloway suggested holding the book in the back and allowing it to be checked out upon request. Brantley said she felt there were some quotes in there that children couldn’t understand because of the complexity of the issue of gender dysphoria.
“’When I was born they thought I was a,’ this phrase is mentioned eight plus times in this book. It’s never followed with a they were wrong, but it’s followed with a ‘I’m actually,’ or ‘but I’m really a,’ and sometimes the person does say they got it right. That to me is problematic,” Brantley said.
Brantley said she felt prepubescent children were not the target for this audience, but pubescent children who might need support and guidance are. But it shouldn’t be in the children’s section.
“I do have my own set of morals and opinions, which may not be shared by my entire board, but I don’t think this book is appropriate for children,” Brantley said. “I think it speaks against what is true and biologically sound. I think delivery doctors can look at genitals and decide male or female, and that is not untrue. That is true, and this book is saying it’s untrue.”
The board voted 6-0 to move “True You: A Gender Journey” to the non-fiction adult section of the library.
The fifth book up for reconsideration was “The Rainbow Parade” by Emily Nielson. This children’s picture book is about June attending a Pride Parade with her moms for the first time.
Calloway said that while the book handles the topic “softly and broadly,” it’s the photos he has issues with.
“There’s just, at one point there’s someone pictured who is completely nude,” Calloway said. “Another point there’s people in kind of leather outfits, and I just don’t think that’s appropriate for the kids section based on the pictures.”
There was a discussion back and forth amongst the board members whether it was appropriate or not, with audience members interrupting with their opinions on it. There was discussion about moving it behind the desk, but that was not an option. Ultimately the board voted 5-1 to remove the book from the library with Bergeron not voting in favor of removing it.
The next library board meeting will be Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 11:30 a.m. at the Columbia County Library. At that meeting, the books “What If It’s Us” by Becky Albertalli, “The Real Riley Mayes” by Rachel Elliott, “Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle” by Nina LaCour and “Simon vs the HOMO Sapiens Agenda” by Becky Albertalli will be up for reconsideration.
Stephanie Hill is the managing editor and covers Columbia County government for The Augusta Press. Reach her at stephanie@theaugustapress.com.
