Thread by @AnnaCaudill4

Happy #BannedBooksWeek2021 Williamson Co! Here’s 31 books that @Moms4LibertyWC want banned from Williamson County Schools, with the blessing of @MarshaBlackburn, who calls them her “security moms”!🧵

breitbart.com/politics/2021/…

1. “Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears: A West African Tale” A 1976 Caldecott Medal winner by Verna Aardema, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon. Moms for Liberty’s complaint? “This is dark material for Kindergarten.”

2. “Sea Horse: The Shyest Fish in the Sea”, by Chris Butterworth, illustrated by John Lawrence. @sljournal calls it “An accomplished entree to early science topics.” MFL complains it’s too sexy & “only male fish get pregnant”. Also there’s “bending, squeezing, & pushing” (???)

3. “What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?”, an interactive guessing book by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page. The @ALALibrary praised the book’s animated movie version. MFL complains about its “emphasis on scary & dangerous animals”, including “animals that kill humans”.

4. William Steig’s “Brave Irene”, about a dressmaker’s brave daughter. Steig is known more for his picture book “Shrek!” MFL says it’s too “scary”.
Bonus: TN’s own @algore reads “Brave Irene” here:

5. “Feelings” by writer/illustrator Aliki. This one took my breath—I remember @levarburton’s ice cream falling to the ground on the Reading Rainbow episode featuring “Feelings”. Moms 4 Liberty wants it banned from Williamson County Schools b/c “22 pages have negative emotions”.🙄

5+. That episode of @levarburton’s Reading Rainbow w/ Aliki’s “Feelings”, which @MarshaBlackburn’s @Moms4LibertyWC wants banned from @WCSedu. Posted here in honor of @ALALibrary #BannedBooksWeek2021.

6. “The Rough-Face Girl” by Rafe Martin, illustrated by David Shannon—an Algonquin version of the Cinderella story. Buried w/in their summary of the book, Moms 4 Liberty are concerned about her “bathing topless w/ her hair covering her chest.” Do Moms 4 Liberty not wear bikinis?

7. “The Buffalo are Back” by Jean Craighead George, illustrations by Wendell Minor. Moms 4 Liberty says “Not historically accurate” b/c of “negative comments about the government” & b/c it “implies that the government hated Native Americans & killed the buffalo”. Where’s the lie?

8. “Journey of a Pioneer” by Patricia Murphy, a DK reader about a family’s epic journey on the Oregon Trail. Setting aside how many DK book parties I’ve been to for church friends, it’s weird to see M4L demand this book be banned for mentioning “drowning, death, & other tragedy”.

Recap: Thus far, the alarming content @MarshaBlackburn’s “security moms” Moms 4 Liberty insist be banned from schools includes:

*negative feelings
*poisonous animals
*”difficult things”
*bending, pushing, & squeezing

Banning CRT was just the beginning.

9. “First Nations of North America: Plains Indians” by Andrew Sandella, a non-fiction book about culture & customs.
@Moms4LibertyWC complains the book “paints white people in a negative light”.
Ah, now we’re getting specific. #BannedBooksWeek2021

10. “The Story of Johnny Appleseed” by Aliki. Moms for Liberty’s complaint? “Two pages of divisiveness” that include “He tried to make peace between the settlers & the Indians, for he believed that all men should live together as brothers.” #BannedBooksWeek2021

10+. I don’t think the book should be banned, but I find it problematic in a different direction. There’s good reason to teach that Johnny Appleseed co-opted the methods of Ohio Valley Indigenous farmers.

Picking this 🧵 back up tomorrow. Follow along for more #BannedBooksWeek2021!

And we’re back!! Picking the 🧵 back up for the other 21 books @Moms4LibertyWC demanded Williamson County Schools ban, shortly before @MarshaBlackburn featured them as heroes!

11. “Johnny Appleseed”, written & illustrated by Steven Kellogg, is “the most accessible & entertaining one available for young children”, per @sljournal. According to Moms for Liberty, however, it should be banned b/c it’s “sad & dark”. #BannedBooksWeek2021

12. “Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation”, Mexican-American author @duncantonatiuh tells the story of the courageous Mendez family & their work to desegregate CA schools 7 years before Brown v Board of Ed. Moms 4 Liberty wants it banned.

12+. In addition to claiming that @duncantonatiuh’s book about the Mendez family is “hyper-focused on racial differences”, @Moms4LibertyWC ignorantly misunderstands how his illustrations are influenced by Pre-Columbian art. Here, he discusses his work.
thebullhornblog.org/2018/02/21/dun…

12++ But the most grotesque part of the demand by @MarshaBlackburn’s “security moms” to ban @duncantonatiuh’s book? M4LWC accuses the *author* of being racist & stereotyping—b/c he tells the story compiled from court documents & interviews w/ Sylvia.
nbcnews.com/news/latino/du…

13. “The Story of Ruby Bridges”, by Robert Coles. @BarackObama awarded Coles the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Coles, a neuropsychiatrist, worked w/ children living through the trauma of desegregation in the ‘60s. @Moms4LibertyWC says his book “instills shame in white children”.

13+ @MarshaBlackburn’s “security moms” aren’t just mad at @BarackObama’s Medal of Freedom honoree for *writing* about Ruby Bridges. They want to ban George Ford’s illustrations, too, for being “highly inflammatory & divisive”. More on Ford’s legacy:
hbook.com/?detailStory=a…

14. “Ruby Bridges Goes to School: My True Story”, by Ruby Bridges.
@Moms4LibertyWC wants Ruby’s autobiography banned from schools b/c of “Highly inflammatory racist remarks on images that are not age appropriate...Author’s narratives is reducing people down to their race.”

14+. @Moms4LibertyWC demanded Williamson Co ban Ruby Bridges’s own autobiography b/c she “demonizes whites”. @MarshaBlackburn, whose MS school district wasn’t integrated until she was almost out of high school, praised M4L *a MONTH later*.

15. “Martin Luther King, Jr., and the March on Washington”, by Frances Ruffin, illustrated by Stephen Marchesi. Moms for Liberty wants this book banned b/c of “photographs of political violence”. #BannedBooksWeek2021

16. “When Peace Met Power”, by Laura Helweg. This is an article, but I’m counting it in #BannedBooksWeek2021 b/c Moms 4 Liberty wants it banned for showing a “negative view of firemen & police”. Hellweg is an editor for Christian publisher Thomas Nelson.
laurahelweg.com

17. “Amos & Boris”, written & illustrated by William Steig. Moms for Liberty wants this tale of unlikely friends banned b/c the mouse’s fear during his adventure on the high seas is “suicidal ideation”. What’s more, Amos’s “rage” when Boris “accidentally throws him” is a problem.

18. “Shark Attack!” by Cathy East Dubowski. Dubowski’s book, written for newly independent readers, blends story elements w/ facts, winning 3rd grade hearts everywhere. But Moms for Liberty says it must join #BannedBooksWeek2021 b/c the stories “are kind of scary.”

19. “Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei”, by Peter Sis—a 1997 @ALALibrary Caldecott Honor Book. Moms 4 Liberty wants it banned b/c it’s “anti church”. “Where is the HERO of the church?” they cry.

Galileo says, “If they had seen what we see, they would have judged as we judge.”

20. “Coming to America” by Betsy Maestro, illus. by Susannah Ryan, tells how ppl came here via the Bering Strait, slavery, & immigration. @MarshaBlackburn’s “security moms” want it banned for discussing “slavery & Indian conflicts without...actual US history”.#BannedBooksWeek

21. “Love that Dog” by @ciaobellacreech. I *love* this book-it’s so faithful to the way children work up to talking about trauma & loss. @Moms4LibertyWC demands it be banned for containing “death, childhood insecurity”. “It’s like broken English”, they whine.#BannedBooksWeek2021

22. “Hatchet”, by Gary Paulsen, a 3-time winner of the @ALALibrary ALSC’s Newbery Medal, is on Moms for Liberty’s ban list b/c there’s “too much detail” about his “mother having an affair” & b/c of his “suicide attempt”. #BannedBooksWeek2021

23. “George vs. George: The American Revolution As Seen from Both Sides”, by Rosalyn Schanzer. @Moms4LibertyWC wants this American Revolution book banned b/c it has “hanging, burning houses...murder, rape, torture, scalping, cannibalism...leggings made from skin”#BannedBooksWeek

24. “Walk Two Moons” by @ciaobellacreech, winner of the @ALALibrary ALSC Newbery Medal. @MarshaBlackburn’s “security moms” @Moms4LibertyWC claims it was written by Creech “to assuage her own grief”, making it “too upsetting” for 4th graders. #BannedBooksWeek2021

25. “Understanding Greek Myths”, by @nataliehyde. It’s not the gods & goddesses that make @Moms4LibertyWC want this book banned from Williamson Co. Schools. It’s the “details about eating children”. #BannedBooksWeek2021

26. “Pushing Up the Sky: Seven Native American Plays for Children”, by Abenaki writer @JosephBruchac, illustrations @TeresaFlavin. @MarshaBlackburn’s @Moms4LibertyWC want this banned b/c “The Cannibal Monster” is “somewhat scary”. For 4th graders. #BannedBooksWeek2021

27. “Gifts from the Gods: Ancient Words & Wisdom from Greek & Roman Mythology” by Lise @LungeLarsen, illustrated by @garethhinds. @Moms4LibertyWC wants this book banned b/c of “very dark, somewhat scary” stories & “scary” illustrations (nekkid Venus p 37!!). #BannedBooksWeek2021

28. “Thunder Rolling in the Mountains” by Scott O’Dell & Elizabeth Hall, about the US Army’s defeat of Nez Perce Indians. Moms 4 Liberty wants it banned b/c of “Violent, graphic killing, dark & sad...overall dark & dismal”.
Which is also how the Nez Perce felt.
#BannedBooksWeek

29. “The River Between Us” by Richard Peck. Like O’Dell & Hall, Peck draws M4L ire b/c his book “painted white ppl as ‘bad’ or ‘evil’ or ‘couldn’t be trusted’”. They also want the book banned for “out of marriage families btwn white men & black women”.#BannedBooksWeek2021

30. “We are the Ship: the Story of Negro League Baseball”, written & illustrated by @KadirNelson. @MarshaBlackburn’s @Moms4LibertyWC want this (incredible) book banned b/c it “talks about being hanged” & references the N word. #BannedBooksWeek2021

So I said “31” books, but @WCSedu lists *30* under review. wcs.edu/Page/8408

Last, you don’t have to take my word for it. Read Moms for Liberty’s reviews yourself. Go to this link & scroll down to select the “K-5 Book Reviews V2 (CAO 23 June 21)” tab. It will open up the spreadsheet.

#BannedBooksWeek2021

mflwillco.org/curriculum

PS-I linked the wrong Breitbart article as the source of Sen Marsha Blackburn’s “security moms”. *That* article has Franklin’s own @SenJohnson backing this censorship nonsense. *Here’s* Marsha’s article, in which she describes this as a war.

breitbart.com/politics/2021/…