Headline: Des Moines Register, 8/31/2023
Waverly Zhao wonders how students are supposed to understand freedom when books are taken away.
The 2023 Johnston High School graduate, who is a person of color and part of the queer community, said she was deeply affected by books she read in school such as "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas, a novel about a Black 16-year-old who saw a white police officer kill her friend, as well as dystopian novels about government oppression like "The Handmaid's Tale" and "1984."
Yet Thomas' novel has been one of the most challenged books in the nation because of the way it discusses racism and police brutality, as well as its portrayal of sexuality, drug use, violence and profanity.
An exclusive Des Moines Register investigation found it was also among the nine most challenged books in Iowa over the past three years, one of 60 books targeted in Iowa schools by conservative parents and lawmakers who contend they are not "age appropriate" for children.
All of the nine most challenged books in Iowa told stories of LGBTQ people, people of color or both in some way. Zhao, one of several students across the Des Moines metro who organized against book removals in 2021, doesn't believe that's a coincidence. [emphasis added]
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June
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April
March
January
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