Like many local parents, I am tired of the “book” discussion in our public schools. As a former English teacher with a bachelor’s degree in English Literature, I love books and reading all types of genres. As an American, I am truly grateful for the ability to read any book I choose at any time. Similarly, I respect the rights of others to read books that I may disagree with or even detest. So imagine my surprise when I was labeled a “book burner.” 

For those parents involved in local school districts particularly school board elections, this will come as no surprise. After the United States Department of Justice called out parents who spoke up passionately at school board meetings as “domestic terrorists,” the progressives turned up the heat and started throwing around the terms “book burner” and “book banner.”

Their messaging was very good, though, because most conservative school board candidates in the southeast lost to progressive candidates in the last election. Regardless of the candidates’ views on books, all conservatives were lumped together and described as “book banners.” And please don’t bother to try to explain to the uninformed electorate that the United States is one of the few countries where we have unfettered access to all reading materials. 

While many of us would like to stop talking about library books and focus on the real task at hand, addressing learning loss, the progressives can’t seem to let it go. Some of them insisted on being sworn in on a stack of so-called “banned books.” Please ignore the fact that these books are available at the local public library and Amazon.

The point that I assume these newly elected officials were trying to make is that these books were under scrutiny for being located in a public school library. Never mind that school libraries have limited space and librarians must make decisions about what to procure, maintain, and discard from the collection on a regular basis. Someone is making a choice every day about what’s available in the library, and it can’t be every book ever published.

Last month, this point was made quite clear in an article in The Free Press, entitled “The Truth About Banned Books.” The author, James Fishback, surveyed the library catalogs for thirty-five of the largest public school districts in eight red and six blue states. “What I discovered isn’t so much a problem of banned books. It’s that kids are often exposed to only one side of the story.”

Fishback’s research showed that the vast majority of districts had significantly more liberal leaning books than conservative leaning books. He opined, “should libraries carry books that peddle progressive ideas? Absolutely, but only if they carry books that advocate for conservative ones too, so our young minds can benefit from the full spectrum of opinions. Unfortunately, in the school districts I surveyed, this isn’t the case.”

Given the amount of debate on this topic locally and the impact on local school board elections, I decided to use Fishback’s methodology to analyze library holdings in twelve districts across the suburban collar counties. The following districts were selected, and a thorough search of their online library catalog system was conducted to determine what books they contained. (Note: some districts provide library information across the entire district and other districts have school specific catalogs. In those instances, the data is limited to the high school libraries.)

Bucks County – Central Bucks School District, Pennridge School District, and Pennsbury School District

Chester County – Downingtown Area School District, Great Valley School District, and West Chester Area School District

Delaware County – Haverford School District, Marple Newtown School District, and Radnor School District

Montgomery County – North Penn School District, Perkiomen Valley School District, and Souderton School District

For ease of comparison, I selected most of the books that Fishback chose for his national analysis. He chose both liberal and conservative books on topics, including race, gender, and politics. Overall, the local trends in southeast Pennsylvania are mostly consistent with the national trends reported in his research.

Starting with books about race, we compared the percentage of districts that had copies of Ibram X. Kendi’s, How to Be an Antiracist, to John McWhorter’s, Woke Racism. Kendi, a well-known progressive, is one of the early writers who coined the phrase “antiracist.” McWhorter, a Columbia professor is a well known conservative writer and thinker. Across the national survey, 42 percent of districts had the Kendi book in the library, and only one district or less than 3 percent had McWhorter’s book. Locally, 10 districts or 83 percent had Kendi’s book, and only one or 8 percent had McWhorter’s. In this example, the local districts’ biases far exceeded the national survey.

In order to analyze books about gender, we looked at four books. Felix Ever After, by Kacen Callender, and Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe, represent the progressive views on gender, describing girls who hate being forced into wearing dresses and playing with dolls as transgender or non-binary. Trans, by Helen Joyce, and Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, by Abigail Shrier, are best sellers that depict skepticism about the rapid rise and social contagion of transgender identification in young people. 

Nationally, 77 percent of districts had Felix Ever After, 25 percent had Gender Queer in the libraries, and none of the districts had either counter-perspective book available. Locally, 100 percent of the school districts had Felix Ever After, 41 percent had Gender Queer, and similarly, none of the districts had Trans or Irreversible Damage available.

Political books followed the same pattern – liberal views far outweighed conservative views. Barack Obama’s, Dreams From My Father, is available in 75 percent of national libraries surveyed, and Michelle Obama’s, Becoming, is in 65 percent. Locally, Dreams From My Father, can be found in eleven of twelve of the districts surveyed or 91 percent, and Becoming is available in ten of the twelve or 83 percent.

Conversely, conservative political views are woefully underrepresented in the majority of libraries both nationally and locally. Fishback found that none of the following books were available in the national survey with the exception of Mike Pence’s book, and that was only found in two districts or 6 percent. Locally, none of these books are available in any of the twelve districts.

America, a Redemption Story, by Tim Scott 

If You Want Something Done, by Nikki Haley 

Nation of Victims, by Vivek Ramaswamy 

Never Give an Inch, by Mike Pompeo 

The Courage to Be Free, by Ron DeSantis

So Help Me God, by Mike Pence 

Finally, we analyzed books by well-known progressive and conservative thinkers, and the results follow in the tables. The trends are all the same with the number and percentage of progressive books exponentially higher than conservative books. 

Additionally, most districts both nationally and locally have more than one of Ibram Kendi’s books. Despite this overemphasis on a single author, the counterview is practically unrepresented. The 1619 Project offers an ideal opportunity to give students two divergent perspectives. Half of the districts nationally and locally carry Hannah-Jones book, but not a single one has Phillip W. Magness’ The 1619 Project: A Critique.

Books written by well-known progressive thinkers (as defined by Fishback)

Books written by well-known conservative thinkers (as defined by Fishback)

The point of this exercise is to illustrate the stark differences between reality and the progressives’ views and messaging. Clearly, our public school libraries are filled with liberal leaning books with very few opposing viewpoints. As Fishback pointed out, books with progressive views are fine as long as they are balanced with differing opinions. 

Students and taxpayers deserve to read a myriad of books to learn how different people think and view the world. If we only allow one message, how can we expect our students to learn to think independently and develop their own ideas? The answer is simple: we cannot. Maybe that is the progressives’ hope and fear. If students are exposed to divergent thoughts, they might actually learn to think for themselves, and that runs counter to their narrative. 

The next time you hear someone talking about book bans, ask them if Woke Racism or Capitalism and Freedom are in their school library. 

Beth Ann Rosica resides in West Chester, has a Ph.D. in Education, and has dedicated her career to advocating on behalf of at-risk children and families. She covers education issues for Broad + Liberty. Contact her at barosica@broadandliberty.com.