I wrote in yesterday's post about how teachers and librarians have been great champions of my books over the years. Thankfully (and rather surprisingly), my work has never been strongly targeted by individuals or groups who try to get books banned. But, every so often, they will fall foul of a rogue banner, as happened in some school libraries in Pennridge in the USA a couple of years ago.

I'm including the text of an article which explains in depth what happened, but in short, two board members decided to sneakily ban twenty books, without telling anyone -- they had the book "checked out" by not-existent students, so that they were never on the shelves!! Thankfully, a parent got suspicious and challenged them in court, and they were recently forced to come clean. Whether the books are back in circulation again or not, I don't know.

The curious thing is that, according to the article, all the banned books "include topics including sexual abuse or assault, abortion and gender identity." But, of course, Cirque Du Freak includes NONE of those topics!!! Hmmm...

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This article was written by Chris Ullery and appeared in the Bucks County Courier Times. The reason I'm not just providing a link to the original article online is that I wasn't able to access it from Ireland.

Pennridge removed these books in 2022. What's next for over 20 'shadowbanned' titles?

A list of more than 20 books removed from Pennridge School District libraries will likely be the first titles reviewed once a new resource materials policy passes, emails with district officials show. The list provided by Superintendent Angelo Berrios to Pennridge parent Darren Laustsen includes several titles by two authors, Sarah J. Maas and Colleen Hoover, frequently challenged in school districts nationwide over the past two years.

The day after Pennridge school board members gave the first of two votes approving a revised “resource materials” policy on Aug. 26, Laustsen requested a list of books “secretly removed” September 2022 when the board first approved its controversial library policy.
Two years ago, Laustsen found that often-challenged books were being checked out en masse almost immediately after the policy was adopted. Laustsen won a legal battle with Pennridge last October in an open-records appeal for library records that ultimately found the district “effectuated a cover up” showing that “non-students” had checked out the books, according to court documents.

The current and potentially incoming policy governing how new books, movies and other media are included in classroom and school libraries does include a challenge process for residents, but the books removed in 2022 were apparently taken off shelves without any formal challenges.

Court filings point to Pennridge board: Two Pennridge board members ordered books removed from schools, court documents say

What books were removed from Pennridge in 2022
The books removed from Pennridge schools run a gamut from medieval fantasy to personal memoir, but all include topics including sexual abuse or assault, abortion and gender identity. Most can be found on BookLooks, a website with ties to conservative parental rights group Moms For Liberty — designated an “anti-government” hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Here are the books removed from Pennridge two years ago:

• "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
• "Allegedly" by Tiffany D. Jackson
• "Cider House Rules" by John Irving
• "Cirque du Freak" by Darren Shan
• "Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe
• "It Ends with Us" by Colleen Hoover
• "Last Night at the Telegraph Club" by Malinda Lo
• "Looking for Alaska" by John Green
• "Losing Hope" by Colleen Hoover
• "Maybe Now" by Colleen Hoover
• "Milk and Honey" by Rupi Kaur
• "November 9" by Colleen Hoover
• "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
• "Precious" by Sapphire
• "Push" by Sapphire
• "Sold" by Patricia McCormick
• "The Haters" by Jesse Andrews
• "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky
• "Ugly Love" by Colleen Hoover

What happens next in Pennridge?
School board President Ron Wurz said in an Aug. 27 email to Laustsen that a review committee will consider returning the books removed in 2022. The board unanimously approved a first-read vote on a revamped resource materials policy last month, but the board needs to hold a second-read vote before enacting the policy. The Pennridge school board meets next at 7 p.m. on Sept. 23, but the agenda has yet to be published.

First-read on for new Pennridge policy: The new-look Pennridge board is poised to amend its contentious book policy. What to know.
“When the new policy is in place we will have our librarians review the removed books and decide which shall be reintroduced, as they would with any new book,” Wurz said in the email. “We are committed to being transparent, we will publish all books added to the library as well as those challenged.”