Walking into the learning commons, students are presented with a wide variety of books to choose from. They are able to find books and media that tailor to their specific interests, but new revisions to a Missouri State Law may prevent this literary variety and creative freedom.

Missouri Laws now require the review and eventual banning of any illustrated depictions of harmful or sexually explicit material. Through the passing of this law, a total of 41 books- 7 titles and 34 volumes- were completely banned from the school library. Senior and Digital Artist, Aqua Burton describes the impact of losing certain graphic novels and art in the library.

“It’s worrying seeing how much art is being banned,” Burton said. “As someone who has an interest in manga and graphic novels, it’s difficult to watch so much beautiful art being taken away from students, especially ones that have interests in graphic novels and digital art.”

While taking tolls on literary variety for students, librarians also struggle removing the books from the library. Librarian Cassandra Flores describes the moral struggle of removing banned books from the library.

“I don’t want to limit any books from students. I want them to be able to read whatever they are interested in, but we have a duty as both adults and librarians to make sure the content is safe for students,” Flores said. “With the new laws, the district made librarians review and remove any of the banned books they found inappropriate.”

While the banning of explicit content may be necessary to protect students from harmful material, the laws raise the question: Where does the line of power end? Burton describes his worries for the future of book banning.

“My question is when do they stop banning books and where’s the regulation?” Burton said. “There seems to be no ways to combat book bans at the state level so I’m worried about them banning more and more books in the future.”

https://www.fhsdschools.org/news/2022-23_news/f_h_s_d_responds_to_new_law_impacting_missouri_sch