Challenges to books like ‘Maus’ and ‘New Kid’ have more than doubled. Here’s what parents, teachers, and librarians have to say about the issue.
By Cassandra Spratling, Published February 28, 2022
Photograph by Smith Collection / Gado / Getty Images
When award-winning author and illustrator Jerry Craft learned last October that his virtual visit to a school in Katy, Texas, was canceled and his popular book New Kid had been removed from the library’s shelves, he was shocked.
A mom had complained that his humorous graphic novel—about his childhood experience as a Black student attending a mostly white school—gives students a distorted view of race.
“I couldn’t imagine what someone would find in it that was offensive,” says Craft, whose book won the Newbery Medal and a Coretta Scott King Book Award.
But some 400 people had signed a petition supporting the actions. After a 10-day review from the school district, his visit was rescheduled and the book put back on the shelves.