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Virginia Beach — Virginia Beach school officials are reviewing six books after two board members asked to have them banned from the division’s schools.
In an email sent to Superintendent Aaron Spence, members Victoria Manning and Laura Hughes asked that four books be pulled because of “pornographic” content. The four books in question: “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison, “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe, “A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest Gaines and “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison.
Spence wrote in an email to board members that Manning also asked for a review of two additional books — “Beyond Magenta” by Susan Kuklin and “Good Trouble: Lessons from the Civil Rights Playbook” by Christopher Noxon — but it is unclear why they are being questioned.
In emails obtained through a public records request, Manning wrote that the first four books contain “sexually explicit” content and “pedophilia.” She urged that the books be removed from the libraries’ circulations and blocked electronically and asked for the district to review every book in the system’s libraries. She also asked for staff who approved the books to be disciplined.
Manning wrote she had not read all of the books personally but said of “The Bluest Eye” that “just reading a few of the pages gives me utter disgust.”
The Virginian-Pilot reached Manning on Thursday evening, but she said she would not comment until Friday.
While Manning has yet to comment to the paper about her objections to these books, she did lay out some in emails to Spence and in a Facebook post Friday morning. In the post, she criticized The Pilot for publishing a story before talking with her.
“Why didn’t The Pilot report the language that is in the book ‘The Bluest Eye’ that discusses in great detail about a father raping and molesting his daughter and getting pleasure from it,” she wrote. “Is this the type of thing you want your child to read? This is what has been vetted by the district as appropriate curriculum. Is this the Social Emotional Learning they had in mind?”
She also pointed out illustrations in the book “Gender Queer” in which people are “performing oral sex and using sex toys.”
She further criticized the newspaper, writing, “The Pilot’s article makes it seem like I’m a book burner. When in fact, I just don’t want our children exposed to this sick pornography.”
Four of the six books were first brought to the district’s attention in September and removed from the school district’s libraries for review, Spence said in an email. That’s the normal process when a parent challenges a book. He noted none of the books were part of the curriculum. Staff are still reviewing three of the books but agreed after review to remove “Gender Queer.”
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Regarding Manning’s request that all books be reviewed and removed immediately should they have “any pornographic material,” Spence noted all physical and digital materials are vetted by instructional staff with the Department of Teaching and Learning.
“What one person finds offensive, others may not,” he said in response to Manning, eluding to the importance of following an outlined process to challenge literature.
Board members can challenge books at any point throughout the year. But Manning has a history of criticizing the school system’s academic and education choices.
In May, she condemned the division’s decision to partner with an educational nonprofit because it “advocates for the 1619 Project and other leftist ideologies.” The 1619 Project was a New York Times initiative that looked at how slavery shaped American history and institutions. She also spoke out against a group of middle school teachers who took part in a book study with students using “The Racial Healing Handbook” by Anneliese A. Singh, calling it “appalling and disgusting.”
The complaints in Virginia Beach follow similar ones made by parents in Fairfax County before the board is expected to vote on a resolution about Critical Race Theory next week, a familiar pattern that’s played out with other hot-button social issues.
Staff Writer Sara Gregory contributed reporting to this story.
Sierra Jenkins, 229-462-8896, sierra.jenkins@virginiamedia.com