When Schools Ban Books
1A - A podcast by NPR
In late October, Republican Texas state legislator Matt Krause wrote a letter to the Texas Education Agency asking it to look into how 850 books are being used in state schools. According to a breakdown of Krause's list from Book Riot, about two-thirds of the books explore LGBT storylines or feature LGBT characters. Another 15 percent or so could be categorized as sexual education. About 8 percent discuss race and racism.While the censorship of some books in schools is nothing new, a growing number of challenges are against books about identity. And pushback on certain books isn't limited to Texas. We look into which books are being challenged and why. Then we sit down with the authors of three of those books for their perspectives.Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.
