ANOTHER GRAPHIC NOVEL FOUND IN ROCKWOOD LIBRARIES WOULD LIKELY BE A CRIME IF GIVEN TO STUDENTS (ORIGINAL POST EDITED WITH UPDATES)

UPDATE: Rockwood removed this book from school libraries.

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It's the graphic novel version of the book "The Handmaid's Tale."

It was discovered today, when we looked for it in Rockwood's library database.

Note: Graphic novel means cartoon images, similar to what you'd see in a comic book.

IMAGES INSIDE APPEAR TO VIOLATE A NEW LAW

Under a new law that took effect August 28th, it will be a crime for schools to provide sexually explicit IMAGES to students. (The law does not affect written text.)

WARNING MATURE CONTENT

Prior to Rockwood removing the book, students as young as 14 years old could check out the book and see these images:

"The Handmaid's Tale The Graphic Novel"

The new law defines explicit sex as any type of image given to a student that shows human masturbation, sexual intercourse, stimulation of genitals or depicting post-pubertal human genitals. 

Dr. Shelley Willott told us Rockwood librarians reviewed Rockwood's library books to find and remove those that meet the above definition. 

WHAT BOOKS WERE REMOVED?

Although Rockwood parents were only aware of a few graphic novels with sexually explicit images, it turns out there were 22 sexually explicit books in Rockwood's libraries. 

The district posted on its website that all of them were removed. You can see the list of books here: 
22 sexually explicit books removed from Rockwood

"The Handmaid's Tale was at least the third graphic novel parents found in Rockwood with images like those mentioned in the law.

"Gender Queer: A Memoir" and "Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic" were already on Rockwood's radar because of parent complaints last school year. Both these books were brought to Rockwood's attention last year, through formal challenges and/or parent complaints. "The Handmaid's Tale..." was not challenged in Rockwood. 

A 4th graphic novel, "Let's Talk About It: The Teen's Guide to Sex, Relationships, and, Being a Human" was discovered after the others.

All 4 of the above graphic novels are no longer in Rockwood libraries. "Fun Home..." was not officially removed. It was previously lost.

Library records show "The Handmaid's Tale" graphic novel was in the libraries at:

Lafayette High School
Marquette High School

Rockwood Summit High School

Eureka High School

The image below was captured prior to the law taking effect, but, during the time librarians were checking books for removal.

The book was removed from these two schools by August 20th. It was removed from all 4 schools by the 28th. 

Source: Destiny library database

This is the language defining explicit sex in the new law:

Page 51 of Senate Bill 775, signed by Missouri Governor Mike Parson this summer.

This is the reply Dr. Willott sent to us to explain the plan for following the law:

Dr. Willott is the administrator in charge of book challenges in the district. She told us the titles of the books they removed would be posted on the district's website by August 28th. And, they were.

She references SB 775. That means Senate Bill 775. It was passed in Missouri's last legislative session and signed by Governor Parson this summer.