COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Cobb County Public Schools has removed six more books that have been deemed inappropriate from media centers -- bringing the total up to 26.
This comes as an update to the district's ongoing book review process to remove and not provide materials in media centers that are determined to have lewd, vulgar or sexually explicit content, according to a release.
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The six books are:
- A Court of Wings and Ruin
- A Court of Thorns and Roses
- A Court of Mist and Fury
- A Court of Frost and Starlight
- A Court of Silver Flames
- Iron Fire
These join 20 other books previously removed and no longer accessible in any Cobb County school. Those books are:
- Laid
- Crank
- Tricks
- Push
- Milk and Honey
- It Starts with Us
- The Infinite Moment of Us
- Casual Vacancy
- Identical
- Boys Aren't Blue
- Juliet Takes a Breath
- Monday's Not Coming
- City of Thieves
- Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl
- Flamer
- Blankets
- It Ends with Us
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower
- Lucky
- Thirteen Reasons Why
Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said the 26 books were removed from circulation from more than one million media assets.
"I encourage you, particularly those of you who defend this content in schools, to read the excerpts for yourself before doing so. Use community websites. Go to the bookstore. Go to the public library," Ragsdale said. "I trust you will conclude that, like rated "R" movies, children should not be provided unrestricted access to all media."
Ragsdale also said that the media assets in the district will remain broadly inclusive of diverse individuals, groups, stories and experiences, but they will not have sexually explicit and graphic language inappropriate for children in a public school.
"Again, if parents choose to provide their children access to material at home, we respect that choice as belonging to that child's parent," Ragsdale said. "However, as a public school serving over 100,000 students, we are not going to impose that choice on other people's children."
The removal of books has prompted previous controversy in the district. Critics of book removals have cast the concept as "book bans" that hinder academic freedom and censor certain ideas.
Jeff Hubbard with the Cobb County Association of Educators previously told 11Alive that media specialists and teachers were "scared" to run afoul of district and state content standards. In addition, teacher Katie Rinderle was fired for reading "My Shadow is Purple" in her Cobb County fifth grade class under Georgia's "divisive concepts" education law passed in 2022. Her firing was later upheld by the state Board of Education.
“Our teachers are scared. Our media specialists are scared," Hubbard previously told 11Alive. "They’re literally throwing away hundreds of dollars worth of books and supplemental materials from their classroom because if just one parent comes up with a complaint – they can be in danger of losing their jobs."
Superintendent Ragsdale has stated that they will continue to inform the board and parents of any decisions made regarding other books.
