Tag: Matt Krause
Happy Birthday, Patricia Polacco!
Despite Polacco’s talent to weave and illustrate a story, her books are not always well received. During a school visit, students read Polacco essays entitled “My Family”. One little girl was told her family, which included two mothers and adopted siblings, was not a “real family”. Outraged, Polacco went home that day and wrote In Our Mothers’ House, a story that shares the love and acceptance of a family of two mothers and adopted children of various ethnicities.
Support #FReadom and Support Each Other
OIF has taken in over 300 challenge reports since September 1st, 2021. Many of the “problem books” seem to be on the shelves of school libraries or within school curricula. That being said, public library workers should not feel exempt for too long. We are all in this together and we need to support one another.
The Trend Continues: Books with Civil Rights Themes Challenged in Schools
Texas Republican Representative Matt Krause is investigating books that “might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress.” The irony here, Philip Bump points out, is that all this fervor over books that create “discomfort” in teens and tweens comes on the heels of conservatives claiming censorship and “cancel culture” when Dr. Seuss Enterprises ceased publication of six books that portray racist imagery.
The Krause Banned Books List
The Texas House Committee on General Investigating, chaired by Matt Krause, has compiled a lengthy list of books that they allege contains material that might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex. Ah, the old slippery slope from soft censorship to soul crushing authoritarianism.
Don’t Mess with Texas Librarians
Guest Post by Sara Stevenson. As Michael Moore once said: “Librarians are subversive. You think they’re just sitting there at the desk, all quiet and everything. They’re like plotting the revolution, man. I wouldn’t mess with them.”