Committee votes to ban first of 97 books under review from Beaufort County school libraries

A book review committee voted Thursday night to permanently remove “It Ends With Us” by Colleen Hoover from Beaufort County schools.

It’s the first title of the 97 books removed from schools for review in October to be banned from library shelves. Seven other committees voted that their books only be allowed in grades 9-12, one committee voted for their book to be allowed in grades 6-12, and one committee voted to completely return their book to library circulation.

To make a decision, a majority vote was needed from the seven-person review committees that Superintendent Frank Rodriguez appointed last fall.

About half of the 10 committees had all seven people in attendance. District spokesperson Candace Bruder previously said an absence would not impact the process.

Notably, three of author Ellen Hopkins’ books were voted on Thursday night, but not “Tricks,” the book a parent originally read an excerpt from in front of the School Board days before the 97 books were removed from schools.

The decisions are:

▪ “It Ends With Us” by Colleen Hoover — removed from all grades, previously in grades 9-12

▪ “The Poet X” by Elizabeth Acevedo — returned to grades 9-12, previously in grades 6-12

▪ ”Go Ask Alice” by Anonymous — returned to grades 9-12, previously in grades 6-12

▪ ”Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher — returned to K-12

▪”Impluse” by Ellen Hopkins — returned to grades 9-12

▪ “Crank” by Ellen Hopkins — returned to grades 9-12, previously in grades 6-12

▪ ”Glass” by Ellen Hopkins — returned to grades 9-12, previously in grades 6-12

▪ “Milk and Honey” by Rupi Kaur — returned to grades 9-12

▪ “The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them” by Erin Gruwell — returned to grades 6-12, previously in grades K-12

▪ “Looking for Alaska” by John Green — returned to grades 9-12, previously in grades 6-12

The committees are made up of a community member, a district-level administrator, a parent, a school administrator, a member of a School Improvement Council within the district/school, a school librarian and a teacher.

For “It Ends With Us” four committee members voted to remove the challenged material in its entirety, and one to return it to circulation for grades 9-12 only.

Rodriguez has repeatedly declined to comment on the process or outcomes.

Will there be an appeal?

Only the original complainants — local GOP politician Mike Covert and parent Ivie Szalai — are eligible to appeal the committees’ decisions, which must be done within seven days, according to district policy. After an appeal, it is up to the Board of Education to make a final decision on the titles within 15 days.

Covert said Friday morning he is still deciding whether to appeal any of the decisions from Thursday night, though he appealed all previous decisions to return books to school libraries.

“I’m glad common sense prevailed with [”It Ends With Us”],” Covert said. “I’ll have to go back through my notes of the 97 books. I can’t remember all of the exact pieces and parts.”

An appeal to put “It Ends With Us” back in school libraries is unlikely.

“I can’t imagine that happening,” Covert said. “The reason was valid then, it’s valid now.”

Covert and Szalai have made clear they believe all 97 books should be removed from the shelves.

Earlier this week a majority of the board agreed with earlier book review committees to return the first six books reviewed to schools in a divided vote.

“It Ends With Us”

“It Ends With Us” follows a young college graduate who grew up in a household where her father physically and sexually abused her mother. The book grapples with domestic abuse as the main character experiences it now, with her own partner.

The book is not on PEN America’s 50 most-banned book list from the 2020-21 school year.

According to BookLooks.org, the rating system Szalai used to compile the list of 97 books, it was flagged for “explicit sexual activities, profanity, alcohol and drug use, suicidal ideation, violence and profanity.”

BookLooks.org is used as a rating system by Moms For Liberty, a conservative parents group that has been tied to national book bans.

Four other Colleen Hoover novels are slated to be reviewed, not including the prequel “It Starts With Us,” which comes before “It Ends With Us.”

What committee members said

Members of the committee that reviewed “It Ends With Us” were not immediately available for comment.

Beaufort County parent Dawn Burke was on the review committee for “The Poet X,” and said books with different perspectives are valuable for children.

“You may not be able to travel to [the] Dominican Republic, where this character’s from, you may not be able to travel to Europe or Spain or New York or some places, but books that have characters and backgrounds that are different from the person who’s reading it allows them to get a window into something else, a different perspective,” she said.

“It also allows them to say ‘She’s just like me, you know, she’s a teenager going through things just like me, I’m not alone.”

For “Thirteen Reasons Why,” Beaufort County parent Elizabeth Dardes said the book is important because it addresses issues local students might be having.

“I feel that whether parents know what’s going on in their child’s life or not, this book addresses the struggles that they have, during the very important developmental stage of what I see as seventh grade, through probably sophomore, junior year in high school,” she said.