These are the 20 books that Moms for Liberty sought to remove from Wake school libraries

The Wake County chapter of Moms for Liberty filed challenges against 20 books that it says are not appropriate to be in school libraries.

The county school system has rejected all 189 challenges on the grounds that they were not filed by parents at those schools. The targeted books may include profanity and sexually explicit language and, in some cases, graphic sexual illustrations.

“We’re talking ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ or word-by-word instructional manuals for every kind of fetish that you can imagine for kids in school,” Julie Page, the Wake County chapter chair of Moms for Liberty, claimed in an interview.

Here are the books that the group wants removed or placed in a section of the school library where parental consent would be needed before students could check out the material.

List of targeted books in Wake

▪ “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson. It’s a memoir written by a queer, Black author who discusses growing up among a family with other queer members in it.

▪ “Blankets” by Craig Thompson. It’s an autobiographical story of a young man coming of age in a rigorously fundamentalist Christian family.

▪ “Breathless” by Jennifer Niven. It’s about an 18-year-old girl’s summer romance on a remote island.

▪ “Doing It! Let’s Talk About Sex” by Hannah Whitton. The book describes itself as a educational introduction to sex, as well as a guidebook for those who are already sexually active, with topics such as porn, contraception and sex shaming.

▪ “Flamer” by Mike Curato. It’s a semi-autobiographical graphic novel about a young man coming to terms with his homosexuality.

▪ “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe. It’s a graphic novel autobiography that explores Kobabe’s path to identifying as nonbinary and asexual. It’s been cited by North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson because of some illustrations of people having sex.

▪ “Identical” by Ellen Hopkins. It’s a novel about 16-year-old twin sisters who’ve been the victims of sexual abuse and engage in drug abuse and self harm because of the pain they’ve experienced.

▪ “It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, Gender, and Sexual Health”” by Robie H. Harris. The book is meant to teach children 10 and older about sexual health.

▪ “Jack of Hearts (and the parts)“ by L.C Rosen. The novel is about a queer high school student who is stalked after starting a teen sex-advice column for an online site.

▪ “Jesus Land” by Julia Scheeres. The book is about the author’s experiences of attending a strict religious reform school in the Dominican Republic with her adopted brother.

▪ “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison. It’s a coming-of-age story about a 22-year-old man who is growing up in poverty. It’s been challenged for scenes such as describing how two young boys engaged in oral sex while at a youth group gathering at their church.

▪ “Life Is Funny” by E.R. Frank. The novel traces the lives of 11 teenagers growing up in a Brooklyn neighborhood over a seven-year period as they experience a series of challenges.

▪ “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” by Jesse Andrews. It’s about a teen who makes a movie about a classmate he’s befriended who has been diagnosed with leukemia.

▪ “Push” by Sapphire. The novel tells the story of a 16-year-old pregnant teen living in Harlem who was raped by her father.

▪ “Sex Plus: Learning, Loving, and Enjoying Your Body” by Laci Green. The book covers issues and concerns that go along with sexuality: anatomy, consent, LGBTQ issues, pregnancy prevention, sexual empowerment, healthy relationships and more, according to Harper Collins Publishers.

▪ “Shine” by Lauren Myracle. The novel follows a teenager who is investigating a hate crime involving the beating and near-death of her gay best friend in Black Creek in Wilson County.

▪ “This Book Is Gay” by Juno Dawson. The nonfiction book is intended as an instruction manual for those not finding answers to questions about gender, sex and sexuality.

▪ “Tricks” by Ellen Hopkins. The novel falls the stories of five teenagers who fall into the world of prostitution.

▪ “What Girls Are Made Of” by Elana K. Arnold. The novel is described as an examination of what it means to be a girl, a woman and a physical object as it follows the sexual experiences of a teenage girl.

‘It’s Perfectly Normal’

These 20 books often make annual lists of most banned books due to their content.

Page, of Moms for Liberty, said most of the challenges were sent to high schools, a few to middle schools and one to an elementary school for the book “It’s Perfectly Normal.”

Speakers regularly show up at Wake County school board meetings to read excerpts from books they say are too vulgar to be in the hands of students.

On Tuesday, Jessica Lewis, a parent and critic of the district, read excerpts about how to have sex from “It’s Perfectly Normal.” The book includes full-color illustrations of naked people performing sex acts.

“The book is teaching our children it is perfectly normal to have sex and then it’s OK to get an abortion,” Lewis said as illustrations from the book were held up at the board meeting. “Why, just why are you allowing books to target and sexualize our children? Why do 10-year-olds need to know how to have sex?”

Lewis accused the school board, teachers and librarians who allowed the book to be in school libraries to be “groomers.”

Questioning Pride Month

The Rev. John Amanchukwu read excerpts about how to have anal sex from “Jack of Hearts (and other parts)” at Tuesday’s board meeting.

Amanchukwu then directed his remarks to school board chair Lindsay Mahaffey for wishing people a “Happy Pride Month” at the start of the board meeting.

“Is that what you celebrate Lindsay?” Amanchukwu said. “Happy Pride month to what? ... Is that what you condone? Is that what you celebrate when you acknowledged Pride Month?”

His wife, Crystal Amanchukwu, also spoke out Tuesday against the book “Queer: The Ultimate LGBT Guide For Teens” that she said is found in some Wake high schools. A video of her speech posted by Libs of TikTok, a conservative Twitter account, had drawn more than 500,000 views by early Friday afternoon.

Michele Morrow, who lost her run for school board in November, also took aim at June being celebrated as Pride Month during her public comments.

“There’s no pride in perversion,” Morrow told the board.

While most speakers on Tuesday condemned the books, some speakers spoke in defense of the school board.

“While I am uncomfortable with some of the material that is being read right now, I’ve read some of the books that have been on some of the banned books lists across the country,” Robin Livingston, a parent, told the board. “I don’t find most of them too be inappropriate for a high school kid.”