The War on Books

Abstract

With the nation’s attention toward the misguided attacks of nonexistent Critical Race Theory (CRT) in K-12 schools, books have become a target for removal. Recently, Katy ISD, an affluent suburban district in the Greater Houston area, canceled an upcoming author visit featuring Jerry Craft and his graphic novel New Kid after parents raised concerns regarding the book and what they deemed to be the promotion of CRT. This article explores the book banning controversy at Katy ISD as well as recommendations from the perspectives of a Katy ISD parent as well as a literacy scholar and veteran English teacher.

Keywords

• book challenges
• New Kid
• parent voices
• Critical Race Theory
• diverse texts