A Johnston book organization is hosting a read-in event at the Johnston Farmer’s Market in September.
A group of Johnston parents who said they noticed an “alarming” trend starting in 2021 of parents who demanded school boards remove books they “deemed offensive” started Annie’s Foundation, according to the organization’s website.
Founder and president Sara Hayden Parris says the new nonprofit’s mission is to ensure that members of the community have access to books that reflect the diversity and complexity of the world around them.
“Basically, we feel it’s really important that children see themselves reflected in the books that they read and that they’re provided with,” Hayden Parris said. “Also, that they see books written by authors who look like them and come from similar backgrounds.”
For its kickoff event — a Banned Book Read-In — the foundation invites community members to bring a chair or blanket and their favorite banned book to read from 4 to 6 p.m. Sept. 20 at the Johnston Farmers Market at 6245 Merle Hay Road.
More:As Iowa school districts face new book challenges, students, librarians speak out against bans
Challenged, banned books in central Iowa
In central Iowa, politicians and parents in Ankeny, Johnston, Urbandale, Waukee and West Des Moines school districts have challenged whether children should have access to certain books.
The books often feature stories of LGBTQ people and people of color, and parents challenging them have often decried them as obscene or even pornographic and not appropriate material for children to read. Politicians have called for criminal penalties for educators who make the materials available to students.
Students and librarians say that students can be trusted to make decisions for themselves and that, in some cases, the material has proved critical to students’ understanding of who they are in the world.
Last December, West Des Moines, Waukee and Ankeny school districts initiated reviews of George M. Johnson’s “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” a collection of essays about growing up queer and Black, as well as Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” a comic-style coming-of-age story about the author’s journey with gender and sexuality.
West Des Moines kept “Gender Queer” in the library, while Ankeny and Waukee took it off the shelf. According to Waukee Community School District executive director of communications Amy Varcoe, “All Boys Aren’t Blue” remains on the schools’ shelves. The title also remains in Ankeny schools.
Other titles, such as “Lawn Boy,” a semi-autobiographical novel by Jonathan Evison about a young Mexican-American’s self-discovery, and “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” a novel by Jesse Andrews about three teenagers, one of whom has cancer, were also questioned by parents in surrounding school districts.
Some parents and politicians, such as State Sen. Jake Chapman, R-Adel, labeled some of the debated books “obscene.” Chapman called for changes to state law and the criminal prosecution of educators.
More:Would proposed definition of ‘sexually explicit’ mean removal of more library books from Iowa schools?
A ‘need’ for the community
Hayden Parris said she and a group of mothers began attending Johnston Community School District board meetings last school year to contest some parents’ challenging of two books.
One title, Angie Thomas’ “The Hate U Give,” follows an African American teenage girl who witnesses a police shooting when her unarmed Black friend is shot and killed. The second, Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” tells the story of a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation.
“I started paying attention to the news and seeing this was happening in a lot of suburbs here in central Iowa … and certainly across the country,” said Hayden Parris, who has an 11- and 13-year-old in the school district.
Ultimately, both titles were retained as part of the curriculum and remain available as optional selection in certain classes, she added.
Hayden Parris says it’s important to acknowledge other people’s experiences, such as police violence, even if others cannot relate or have not been exposed to them, personally.
More:Iowans widely oppose criminal penalties, lawsuits over ‘obscene’ books in schools, poll finds
“I don’t know people who’ve been affected by police violence … but I think it’s important to acknowledge that that happens and read stories the author put a lot of thought, effort, and research into,” she said. “It’s really important to read those books so I can get that perspective.”
Annie’s Foundation is inspired by and named in memory of Ankeny parent Ann Lohry-Smith, who passed away in June. It’s made up of four members who are all mothers of children in the school district.
“(Lohry-Smith) was so funny and she would love all of this,” Hayden Parris said. “She had been very vocal at the school board meetings speaking out against book bans and was a just a huge advocate for public education.”
Though there has been some pushback on the organization, Hayden Parris said the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive: Parents have donated money and asked how they can support. The organization’s social media has seen an uptick in followers and engagement, she said.
“It appears that people in our community have identified this as a need and are really excited that we have it to offer,” she said.
For its upcoming event at the farmers market, Hayden Parris says organization members plan to distribute free copies of banned and challenged books for readers of all ages.
So far, they’ve identified two books to hand out. For younger children: Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell’s “And Tango Makes Three,” which is a true story of two male penguins that were given an egg to raise as their own. And for children 14 and older, “The Hate U Give.”
Des Monies Register reporters Chris Higgins and Sarah LeBlanc contributed to this story.
Virginia Barreda is a trending and general assignment reporter for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2.
