The South Carolina Board of Education, which has already banned 12 books from schools statewide, is considering 10 more books for removal, including three young adult books by Ellen Hopkins and two fantasies by Sarah J. Maas.
The state Instructional Review Materials Board voted unanimously March 13 to recommend that 10 more books be pulled from K-12 schools and libraries under a rule adopted last year that bars books containing descriptions or visual depictions of “sexual conduct.” A final vote will be held on April 1.
South Carolina had 64 instances of book bans in three school districts in the 2023-2024 school year. Under a restrictive and ill-conceived regulation that allows the Department of Education to have final say in local disputes over books, any material that includes sexual conduct “as defined in South Carolina law” is forbidden, even in high schools – putting everything from the Bible to Shakespeare at risk.
The latest challenge was brought by a woman who previously sought to remove 97 books in Beaufort County, South Carolina, as captured in the documentary film Banned Together. She has asked the state to reconsider 10 books.
In a letter to the committee shared by the ACLU of South Carolina, Last Night at the Telegraph Club author Malinda Lo said her book reflected her own experience as a Chinese-American lesbian who often felt misunderstood as a teen in the 1980s and ‘90s.
“I didn’t have access to books like this that would have helped me better understand who I was. That’s why I write books about LGBTQ+ and Asian American characters. I’m writing the books I needed as a teen,” she wrote. “While not every book is for every reader, every reader deserves the freedom to choose what they wish to read, not to have those rights taken away from them by the state.”
The books under consideration are:
- Collateral, by Ellen Hopkins
- Empire of Storms, by Sarah J. Mass
- Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Hopeless, by Colleen Hoover
- Identical, by Ellen Hopkins
- Kingdom of Ash, by Sarah J. Mass
- Last Night at the Telegraph Club, by Malinda Lo
- Living Dead Girl, by Elizabeth Scott
- Lucky, by Alice Sebold
- Tricks, by Ellen Hopkins
Already banned in South Carolina are:
- All Boys Aren’t Blue, by George M. Johnson
- A Court of Frost and Starlight, by Sarah J. Maas
- A Court of Mist and Fury, by Sarah J. Maas
- A Court of Thorns and Roses, by Sarah J. Maas
- A Court of Wings and Ruin, by Sarah J. Maas
- Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
- Damsel, by Elana Arnold
- Flamer, by Mike Curato
- Push, by Sapphire
- Normal People, by Sally Rooney
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
- Ugly Love, by Colleen Hoover
