Yesterday, the Delaware Family Policy Council had their first “Citizen Action Day” in Dover. I am not sure how many citizens showed up, but the point of the supposed gathering was to show support for SB 293, which our own ‘Bulo has nominated for “The Worst Bill of the Year,” and for good reason.
One of the few remaining nominees for Worst Bill of the Year will be considered in the Senate Education Committee today. Sen. Venables’ (D-Mars) SB 293, co-sponsored by Rep. Gerald Brady (D-Catholic Diocese of Wilmington), would ‘require schools to notify parents of information being taught to their children relating to human sexuality issues, sexual acts, profanity, violence, drugs and/or alcohol. Such policy would ensure parent/guardian notification no less than 48 hours prior to introduction or instructional use. Such policy would afford parents or guardians the flexibility to exempt their children from any portion of said curriculum or materials through notification to the school principal.’
But Bulo’s description does not provide the full scope of what this bill will really do. Let’s read from the Delaware Family Policy Council’s own mailer, shall we?
Because God has given us authority over our children’s education, we must know what our kids are reading and what our schools are teaching. In the past two years, many of you called DFPC asking what to do when your kids were assigned highly offensive and slanted material. We heard you, and with SB 293 we are asking our leaders to hear you and acknowledge your authority as parents. […]
Parents: be on high alert for these books in the coming school year. Some are even in the Delaware school system right now. Take a look at this book called “It’s Perfectly Normal.” You need to see this book for yourself. Just one from the list. It is in the children’s section of many Delaware libraries! Planned Parenthood, Delaware’s largest abortion provider, uses this book in their curriculum when they are invited into public schools.
Now, before we delve into the list of books the DFPC finds objectionable and wants banned from our schools, perhaps through SB 293, these parents should already know what their kids are reading and what the schools are teaching them, if they were actually involved in raising their kids. Instead, they want legislation forcing the government to do their job for them. Again, who ever said these conservative evangelical Republicans were for small government? Not the conservative evangelicals, obviously.
To the list. I have bolded ones I have read and are familiar with. I can understand some being inappropriate to certain age groups, like a first grader really shouldn’t be reading about puberty or the Catcher in the Rye, because they won’t understand it. But that is not what the DFPC is saying here. They want these books removed from the school library.
A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, by George Beard
Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
We All Fall Down, by Robert Cormier
Always Running, by Luis Rodriguez
America: A Novel, by Frank, E.R.
Anastasia (series), by Lois Lowry
And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, by Louise Rennison
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume
Arming America, by Michael Bellasiles
Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Black Boy, by Richard Wright
Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause
The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
Blubber, by Judy Blume
The Boy Who Lost His Face, by Louis Sachar
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Bridge To Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
Bumps in the Night, by Harry Allard
Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
Crazy Lady, by Jane Leslie Conly
Crazy: A Novel, by Benjamin Lebert
Cut, by Patricia McCormick
Daughters of Eve, by Lois Duncan
A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck
Deal With It!, by Esther Drill
Detour for Emmy, by Marilyn Reynolds
Draw Me A Star, by Eric Carle
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney
The Facts Speak for Themselves, by Brock Cole
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Meyers
Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
The Fighting Ground, by Avi
Forever, by Judy Blume
Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissenger
The Giver, by Lois Lowry
Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine
Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson
Grendel, by John Gardner
Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
Harris and Me, by Gary Paulsen
His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende
Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
I Saw Esau, by Iona Opte
In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak
It’s So Amazing, by Robie Harris
It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
The Joy of Gay Sex, by Dr. Charles Silverstein
Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Graighead George
unie B. Jones (series), by Barbara Park
Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane
Killing Mr. Griffen, by Lois Duncan
King and King, by Linda de Haan
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
Life is Funny, by E.R. Frank
The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
Mick Harte Was Here, by Barbara Park
My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult.
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Rainboy Boys, by Alex Sanchez
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor
Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
Shade’s Children, by Garth Nix
Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
The Sledding Hill, by Chris Crutcher
Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
So Far From the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Watkins
Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher
The Stupids (series), by Harry Allard
Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Green
The Terrorist, by Caroline B. Cooney
The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume
A Time to Kill, by John Grisham
To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer
TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Myracle, Lauren
The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss Ulysses by James Joyce
Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher
What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
What’s Happening to My Body Book, by Lynda Madaras
When Dad Killed Mom, by Julius Lester
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle
You Hear Me?, by Betsy Franco