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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>A secret shelf of banned books thrives in a Texas school, under the nose of censors</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width"> <link id="favicon" rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAYAAAAf8/9hAAAAAXNSR0IArs4c6QAAAHlJREFUOBFjYBgFFIcA48cYpf/opvAv+YouxODXshZDbFONDSMLSJRv8V245KdYZTD7//8XcDFGRgkwe2O1NVzMv/UomA02AMQCaUQ2CCQG0ohsEEgMphHEBgEmCIWdRNeMTRXYBTBnw2iYQpjTYXx022Hio/RAhwAAjXEfJrIXnj4AAAAASUVORK5CYII="> <style> body { display: block; padding: 0px 20px; max-width: 550px; margin: 0 auto; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; } .full-version-link { margin-left: 15px; } .slug-line { font-size: 1.1rem; margin-bottom: 15px; } .hr-line { position: relative; height: 4px; } .hr-line:after { background: linear-gradient(to right, #e60000 0%, #e60000 33.33%, #000000 33.33%, #000000 66.66%, #3366CC 66.66%); position: absolute; content: ''; height: 4px; right: 0; left: 0; top: 0; } hr.gray { border: .5px solid gray; } .story-title { line-height: 2rem; font-size: 1.5rem; margin: 0; } .topic-heading { line-height: 2rem; font-size: 1.5rem; } .topic-container>ul { padding: 0; line-height: 1.4rem; } .topic-container li { display: block; padding-bottom: 15px; } .topic-container { margin-top: 20px; } .topic-date { margin: 20px 0; font-style: italic; } .paragraphs-container { line-height: 1.5rem; } .button:link, .button:visited { background-color: white; color: black; border: 2px solid black; padding: 4px 8px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; } .button:hover, .button:active { background-color: black; color: white; } .lower-nav-container { margin-top: 40px; } .lower-nav-container li { margin-left: 0; display: inline; padding-right: 20px; } h6 { text-transform: uppercase; } </style> </head> <body> <header> Text-Only Version <a class="full-version-link button" href="https://www.npr.org/1222539335">Go To Full Site</a> </header> <main> <article> <div class="story-container"> <a class="slug-link" href="/">NPR</a> > <a class="slug-link" href="/1032">Books</a> <div class="story-head"> <h1 class="story-title">A secret shelf of banned books thrives in a Texas school, under the nose of censors</h1> By Neda Ulaby Monday, January 29, 2024 • 7:01 AM EST Heard on <a href="/1227697386/2024-01-29">All Things Considered</a> </div> <div class="hr-line"></div> <div class="paragraphs-container"> In the far, far suburbs of Houston, Texas, three teenagers are talking at a coffee shop about a clandestine bookshelf in their public school classroom. It's filled with books that have been challenged or banned. "Some of the books that I've read are books like Hood Feminism, The Poet X, Gabi, A Girl in Pieces," says one of the girls. She's a 17-year-old senior with round glasses and long braids. The books, she says, sparked her feminist consciousness. "I just see, especially in my community, a lot of women being talked down upon and those books [were] really nice to read." <hr> Related Story: <a href="/1219428691">To fight so-called book bans, some states are threatening to withhold funding </a> <hr>These students live in a state that has banned more books than nearly any other, <a href="https://pen.org/press-release/pen-america-joins-seven-other-groups-to-support-lawsuit-to-overturn-texas-book-ban-law-as-unconstitutional/">according to PEN America</a>. The Texas State Board of Education <a href="https://www.keranews.org/texas-news/2023-04-19/texas-house-advances-bill-that-would-remove-sexually-explicit-books-from-school-libraries">passed a policy in late 2023</a> prohibiting what it calls "sexually explicit, pervasively vulgar or educationally unsuitable books in public schools." Over the past two years, <a href="https://www.hppr.org/hppr-news/2023-09-21/a-teacher-in-texas-was-fired-for-reading-from-an-anne-frank-graphic-novel">Texas teachers have lost jobs </a>or been <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/transgender-student-texas-grapevine-podcast-rcna118116">pressured to resign</a> after making challenged books available to students. The teacher who created this bookshelf could become a target for far right-wing groups. That's why NPR is not naming her, nor her students. <hr> Related Story: <a href="/1214523941">In the battle over books, who gets to decide what's age-appropriate at libraries?</a> <hr>"We don't want to jeopardize our teacher in any way, or the bookshelf," another teenager explains. Until recently, he says, he was not naturally inclined toward reading. But the secret bookshelf opened a world of characters and situations he immediately related to. "Just to see Latinos, like LGBTQ," he says. "That's not something you really see in our community, or it's not very well represented at all."The secret bookshelf began in late 2021, when <a href="/2021/10/28/1050013664/texas-lawmaker-matt-krause-launches-inquiry-into-850-books">then-state Rep. Matt Krause sent public schools a list of 850 books</a> he wanted banned from schools. They might, he said, "make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex."That made this teacher furious. "The books that make you uncomfortable are the books that make you think," she told NPR. "Isn't that what school is supposed to do? It's supposed to make you think?"She swung into action, calling friends to support a bookshelf that would include all of the books Krause wanted banned. Then she enlisted a student to put it together. "I went through the list and found the ones that I thought were cool," he recalled to NPR over a London Fog latte. "And then she gave me her [credit] card and I bought them. It was a lot of gay books, I remember that." <hr> Related Story: <a href="/1203277224">Adults have a lot to say about book bans — but what about kids?</a> <hr>That same student came out as trans to his family while in high school. "I wouldn't call them supportive, so I had to do a lot of sneaking around," he said quietly. Now 19, he's graduated and works as a host in a restaurant while deciding on his next move. "Having these books, having these stories out there meant a lot to me, because I felt seen," he said. Especially meaningful, he added, during a fraught time when Texas lawmakers banned transition-related care for teenagers. "Because of the way the laws are going for trans people especially," he said, "it could be assumed that [my teacher is] grooming kids. And that would be terrible because that's not what she's doing at all." <hr> Related Story: <a href="/1208419749">Scholastic backtracks, saying it will stop separating diverse books for fairs in 2024</a> <hr>NPR repeatedly reached out to former Texas lawmaker Matt Krause for comment and got no response. He is currently running for county commissioner in the Fort Worth area. The chief of communications for the public school district thanked NPR for "highlighting this very important topic," but said, "we're going to pass on this opportunity," when asked to comment on how administrators are implementing policies around books that have been challenged."We've been seeing a climate of fear — and a variety of self-censorship — going on by school leaders or librarians who do not understand the implications of the law or are fearful for their jobs," said Carolyn Foote. She's a retired English teacher and librarian who co-created the activist group <a href="https://www.txfreadomfighters.us/">Texas FReadom Fighters</a>. <hr> Related Story: <a href="/1212185489">This school board made news for banning books. Voters flipped it to majority Democrat</a> <hr>Kasey Meehan of the free speech advocacy group <a href="https://pen.org/">PEN America</a> says she's watched things in Texas escalate. She points to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/20/texas-teacher-fired-anne-frank-book-ban">a teacher fired last year</a> for sharing a graphic novel with her students that showed Anne Frank having a romantic daydream about another girl. Another teacher <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/transgender-student-texas-grapevine-podcast-rcna118116">featured on an NBC podcast</a> left her job under pressure after making literature available to students featuring a positive transgender character. "Parents are taking books from schools and bringing them to police or sheriff offices and accusing librarians and educators of providing sexually explicit material to students," Meehan says. "It does make me nervous," admitted the Houston teacher with the secret bookshelf. "I mean, this is absolutely silly that I am not free to talk about books without giving my name and worrying about repercussions." <hr> Related Story: <a href="/1222434162">Librarians, who lost jobs for not banning books, are fighting back</a> <hr>At some point, she hopes, it will no longer have to be a secret. Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals blocked part of a recently passed state bill, known as HB 900, that would have required booksellers and publishers to rate any books sold to schools for sexual content. This was seen as a victory for freedom-to-read activists, but some of them noted to NPR that HB 900 still contains dangerously vague language about material prohibited in school and no clear guidelines about enforcement."I do believe that book banning is going to go away," the teacher says, firmly. But for now she adds, "I intend for this library to just keep growing." <hr> Related Story: <a href="/1213317663">Pink gives away 2,000 banned books at Florida concerts </a> <hr> <hr> Related Story: <a href="/1203867879">'This Book Is Banned' introduces little kids to a big topic</a> <hr> <hr> Related Story: <a href="/1200725104">School book bans show no signs of slowing, new PEN America report finds</a> <hr> <hr> <h3>Transcript</h3> ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: The fight over banned books keeps raging. Last week a U.S. appeals court blocked a law that would have required school library books to have ratings for sexual content. Texas is one of the most aggressive book-banning states. More than 1,400 titles were removed from Texas school and library shelves over the past two years, according to PEN America. As a result, some teachers and students have been building underground libraries. NPR's Neda Ulaby reports.NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: Three teenagers are giggling at a coffee shop in Texas about what it takes to get their hands on books.UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: Well, these are special books, so...ULABY: We're in the far, far suburbs of Houston at a coffee shop so nondescript it looks like an ugly Starbucks knockoff. These three 17-year-old seniors brought me here to talk about a secret bookshelf in their teacher's classroom.UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #2: It's really low-key, very undercover.ULABY: How undercover?UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #3: She tells, like, a select few of students who she feels might need a book to get them into reading.ULABY: These students have a lot in common besides attending the same public school.UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #2: We're all minorities.ULABY: And they're all queer. The secret bookshelf, they say, is the one place where they can easily find books that give them characters they can immediately relate to.UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #4: Just to see, like, Latinos, LGBTQ - that's not something, like, you really see in our community, or it's not very well represented at all.UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #3: Well, I am a young, Black lesbian, and I don't meet people like myself in my day-to-day life, either. So reading these characters in these books - it really gives me hope.ULABY: You will not hear the names of these students. NPR has confirmed their identities, but they worry about the consequences of going public with their secret classroom bookshelf.UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #4: We don't want to jeopardize our teacher in any way or the bookshelf or the district or the school.ULABY: Or themselves. Sharing such books in a Texas public school has felt dangerous for the past few years. These students do not want to draw the ire of antagonistic activists or put their teacher at risk. She is a longtime public school employee, a Texas native. And like her state, her secret bookshelf is enormous.UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: At this point, I may have about maybe 600 books.ULABY: They spill from two big bookshelves in her classroom into a bunch of plastic crates.UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: I'll never have enough bookshelves (laughter).ULABY: This teacher started her secret library a couple of years ago, after a Texas lawmaker named Matt Krause sent public schools a list of 850 books he wanted banned because he felt they would make students uncomfortable about race and sex. That made this teacher furious.UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: The books that make you uncomfortable are the books that make you think, and isn't that what school is supposed to do? It's supposed to make you think.ULABY: So she swung into action. First, she called friends.UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: I was like, y'all, I have this project. I want his impact to be that it's actually expanding kids' access to people that are different from them.ULABY: Then she talked to her students. She gave one of them a job. Here's that student remembering the assignment.UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Can you go through the list? Can you see, like, what books you'd recommend for us to add to the library? And then she gave me her card to buy them.ULABY: Wait a minute, she literally was like, here are the books we're not supposed to have - go get them?UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yeah. It was a lot of gay books, I remember that.ULABY: This student has recently graduated. In high school, he came out as a transgender man to his parents.UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: I wouldn't call them supportive, so I had to do a lot of sneaking around.ULABY: Including sneaking books featuring romances between queer characters. Some on the bookshelf are about contemporary high school students now. Some, says the teacher, are queer classics.UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: Yes, I throw James Baldwin at them whenever I can. "Giovanni's Room" is really popular. That book is so wonderful, so wonderful. It's about travel and his identity and confusion. It's so wonderful.ULABY: I reached out to former Texas lawmaker Matt Krause for comment repeatedly and got no response. He's currently running for county commissioner in Fort Worth. Here are some students talking about the books he's been trying to ban they've read from the secret bookshelf.UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #3: There was "1984" by George Orwell. I love that book. I love dystopian novels. "My Heart Underwater" by Laurel Flores Fantauzzo - that was banned strongly because of the LGBTQ main character.ULABY: And here's another student.UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: Some of the books that I've read are books like "Hood Feminism," "Poet X," "Gabi, A Girl In Pieces" - like, books that have really helped me come to sense with feminism. How I grew up, I just see a lot of - like, especially in my community, a lot of women being talked down upon. And those books - it was really nice to read and be educated on.ULABY: To be clear, this public school with the secret bookshelf in Texas, it's not in a fancy part of town. Many students there do not have parents who can drop everything to get their kids books about being queer. Here's the teacher.UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: Oh, I have taught kids whose parents have never set foot in a classroom. They are from small towns in other countries, and their parents were farmers. I've had kids whose names were not spelled correctly because their parents were illiterate. You know, a lot of the kids have parents that did not go to college. A high amount of kids here are on free and reduced lunch.ULABY: A spokesperson for the school district where this teacher works said they prefer not to comment on the issue. The transgender student worries about how much worse it's getting in Texas for teachers who want to help students like him.UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Because of the way the laws are going for trans people especially, it could become illegal to the point where it could be assumed that she's grooming kids. And that would be terrible because that's not what she's doing at all.ULABY: A Texas teacher was fired last year for assigning a book to her students. It was a graphic novel about Anne Frank that showed Anne having a romantic daydream about another girl. There are other documented cases in Texas of teachers leaving jobs because of pressure over challenged books. One local Freedom to Read activist described the atmosphere as chilling. That's what makes the underground bookshelf started by this teacher remarkable, says Kasey Meehan of the free speech advocacy group PEN America.KASEY MEEHAN: Yes, that is in fact incredible, and it's really courageous.ULABY: It's not wrong for students to be worried, Meehan says, given how much things have escalated in Texas in recent years.MEEHAN: Parents are taking books from schools and bringing them to police and sheriff's offices and accusing librarians and educators of providing sexually explicit material to students.UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: It does make me nervous. It does make me nervous. I mean, this is absolutely silly that I'm not free to talk about books without giving my name and worrying about repercussions because history has taught us this lesson over and over again.ULABY: The teacher who runs the secret bookshelf of banned books.UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: You know, I intend for this library to just keep growing.ULABY: And at some point, she hopes it will no longer have to be a secret.UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: I do believe that book banning is going to go away. I think it's kind of the last grasp of people trying to maintain control because they know it's slipping. That's what I tell myself anyway.ULABY: Late last year, the Texas State Board of Education passed a policy prohibiting what it calls, quote, "sexually explicit, pervasively vulgar or educationally unsuitable" books in public schools. Critics say that language is dangerously vague. And although parts of that policy were just blocked by federal court, it was not overturned, and that language was left untouched. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) </div> </div> </article> </main> <div class="hr-line"></div> <nav> Topics <ul> <li><a href="/1001">News</a></li> <li><a href="/1008">Culture</a></li> <li><a href="/1039">Music</a></li> </ul> </nav> <footer> <nav class="lower-nav-container"> <li><a href="/614470770">Contact Us</a></li> <li><a href="/179876898">Terms of Use</a></li> <li><a href="/179881519">Permissions</a></li> <li><a href="/179878450">Privacy Policy</a></li> </nav> &copy NPR </footer> </body> </html>