She protested book bans with a flamethrower. Now her book is up for review in Beaufort Co.
Beaufort County schools are starting the book review process with “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” “Speak” and “The Kite Runner.”
These are the first four books that will be reviewed by committees set up to make decisions on 97 books removed last month from Beaufort County school libraries.
Last month, school administrators removed the 97 titles for review for possible adult content matching the list a parent, and Moms for Liberty member, provided the Board of Education.
The first four books were selected because they are used in some advanced placement courses, according to district spokesperson Candace Bruder.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood has sold millions of copies and inspired an award-winning Hulu TV adaptation, starring Elisabeth Moss. Women’s rights and abortion advocates worldwide have dressed in the caped robes Atwood depicted in the book.
In May 2022, Atwood launched a campaign with publisher Penguin House to raise awareness about book bans and censorship. They created a fireproof copy of “The Handmaid’s Tale” and released videos of Atwood testing the copy with a flamethrower.
“I never thought I’d be trying to burn one of my own books ... and failing,” Atwood saidat the time. “The Handmaid’s Tale has been banned many times — sometimes by whole countries, such as Portugal and Spain in the days of Salazar and the Francoists, sometimes by school boards, sometimes by libraries.”
The superintendent appointed the committees, which consist of seven members: 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.
There will be one committee for each of the first four titles. In total there will be around 15 committees with the potential for each committee to read and review five to seven books sequentially, not simultaneously, according to Bruder.
The district received more than 100 interest forms “from community members, parents, educators, and administrators desiring to serve on a committee, with the majority of interest coming from community members.” From the forms, community members were randomly selected to serve on the committees.
The first four groups’ members were notified by text and email Thursday. The list of members will be made public under a Freedom of Information request. There are no plans to stream the committee meetings at this time, according to Bruder.
“Committee members will be tasked with reading their assigned book in full and then meeting as a group to share and discuss findings. The value of the book is to be examined as a whole, considering the impact of an entire work, transcending individual words, phrases, and incidents,” a district press release said.
The first meeting will be Nov. 17 to ensure understanding of the review process, and the goal is to have a decision two weeks after that, according to Bruder. She didn’t say when members of other review committees would be announced.
