Messages from readers often flow into Sophie Gonzales’ inbox. Teens tell Gonzales that her books about queer characters are the first time they’ve seen themselves reflected in literature. Adults say they wish they’d had her stories when they were growing up.
“I especially teared up at the scene where [the protagonist’s] friends tell her she’s still queer even if she’s with a boy because I think it’s something I needed to hear that no one had ever told me,” one sender wrote in praise of Gonzales’ Perfect on Paper.
But this week, some of the messages Gonzales got about her book were different. She heard from friends, fellow authors and her agent that Perfect on Paper appeared on a list of more than 800 titles that are part of an investigation by a Texas lawmaker.
Rep. Matt Krause, the chairman of the House Committee on General Investigating, informed the Texas Education Agency and unnamed superintendents that he was launching a probe into school library books and curriculum.
Attached to Krause’s letter was a 16-page list of books published from 1969 to 2021 that deal with issues of race, gender identity and sexuality. They included Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates and The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander.
The Fort Worth Republican asked school leaders to identify where copies of the listed books were located in school libraries and classrooms and the amount of money districts had spent on them. He asked districts to also identify within the next two-and-a-half weeks any other books that address human sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, or any material that “might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress” because of their race or sex.
An analysis of Krause’s list by The Dallas Morning News found that of the first 100 titles listed, 97 were written by women, people of color or LGBTQ authors. They delve into perspectives on the Black Lives Matter movement and included stories told from the perspective of queer characters. Several on the list have won awards.
“It’s stunning how nakedly discriminatory these gestures are,” said Ashley Hope Pérez, who wrote Out of Darkness, a book on the list. “It’s so clearly an expression of attack against people with non-white, non-dominant identities. That attack is against the authors but also the people whose experiences are reflected in those books.”
Krause declined a request for comment Wednesday.
Looking over the list, Gonzales felt herself thinking, “Really?”
“Basically, almost every author I know is on there,” she said. “Young Adult is such a diverse category. It really has been a place where a lot of marginalized authors have found success in publishing.”
This latest twist in the fight over what stories get told to children comes months after state legislators passed laws seeking to ban “critical race theory” from the classroom. The academic theory, often not taught until higher education, has been conflated by conservative pundits with a broad range of schools’ diversity and inclusion work. From the floor, some lawmakers argued it was used to make kids feel bad about themselves because of their race.
“This is all being done in the name of trying to do what? To protect kids? To keep them from seeing certain topics discussed in books? But who is protecting kids against racism and homophobia and misogyny and misogynoir?” asked author Kalynn Bayron, who wrote Cinderella is Dead and, until recently, lived in San Antonio.
Krause’s investigation and extensive list of books is the “chilling effect and actual censorship” that opponents to the so-called anti-critical race theory laws warned about during the legislative sessions, said Chloe Latham Sikes with the Intercultural Development Research Association.
When “Krause says that these are books broadly that cause students discomfort, what he means is that they might cause him discomfort,” Latham Sikes said. “For students who might be seeking out these books, there might be a lot of other sources of discomfort in their lives. These books are likely not one of them.”
The removal of a single book represents the loss of knowledge and perspective, Latham Sikes said, but the removal of books recording recent history, including the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, would be an “attack on truth.”
Since the bills passed, parents across Texas have challenged books that explore issues of race, gender and sexuality. Some have read short passages about sexual assault and sexual experiences during school board meetings, saying the material is inappropriate for children.
A mother in Richardson went somewhat viral after her testimony against books that included descriptions of assault and vulgar language. She later said she took issue with the titles’ information about suicide and “left wing ideology.”
Districts have taken different steps in response. Some have removed books from libraries or reconsidered author events. Richardson ISD, for example, paused book clubs to ensure options could be vetted.
Some of the authors at the center of the controversy say they’re disappointed by how some parents characterize their work and are concerned about what Krause’s move signals.
It sends a message to some children that their very existence is controversial, Gonzales said.
“A lot of these books on there, they’re books about people of color just going on adventures,” she said. “They’re books about people from the LGBT community falling in love or having difficulties at school. This is their existence, and it sends a message that living their lives, going about their day, is something wrong.”
Pérez, a former Texas teacher, said she wrote her books for her students, who were predominantly Latino and “hungry for stories about their experiences.”
She’s watched as literature for young adults has become more diverse in recent years and is worried by the backlash, especially because school libraries are where so many kids turn for free access to books.
“All that work is being undermined,” she said, “by this coordinated effort to yank those books off the shelves of school libraries.”
Reporters Emily Donaldson and Allie Morris contributed to this article.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from The Beck Group, Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, The Meadows Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University and Todd A. Williams Family Foundation. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
