On Monday we told you about a source sharing with us that they believe the Iowa City School District and Iowa City Public Library are attempting to get around Iowa law by using the public library’s “Bookmobile” to make stops at elementary schools in the district and offer books that are prohibited from being offered at Iowa schools.
We’re working to get to the bottom of that.
But in the meantime, we were able to search through the catalog for the Bookmobile and found a number of titles that certainly would be prohibited from being in Iowa elementary schools due to Senate File 496 — which required books in Iowa schools to be age-appropriate and also prohibited materials on sexuality and gender identity from K-6 grades.
On Monday, we highlighted the book “Grandad’s Pride.” You can read about that book here:
Today we want to share that a book called “If You’re A Drag Queen and You Know It” is also offered through the Bookmobile, which makes stops at at least seven Iowa City elementary schools during a week.
Here’s the full schedule for the Bookmobile. All stops are open to the public.
You can experience the book through a read-along offered on a YouTube page:
Now, unlike “Grandad’s Pride,” this book may not be illegal under SF496, but one must wonder if it is age-appropriate for its intended audience — which is…wait for it… — 2 years old according to Amazon. And it is classified as a Pre-K book.
As you can imagine, not everyone champions the book…
“This is not children’s material,” wrote one reviewer.
Some other reviews:
“As an educator and a mother of 2, I’m shocked that this is deemed an appropriate book for children. I buy most of my books from Amazon, and I order many other items on a weekly basis. But I must say that I will have to reevaluate whether I cancel my prime membership due to materials like this being available for children. I just can’t believe Amazon would stoop this low!”
“As someone with a PhD in education, I concur with Aline Cormier of the Feminist Current, “Drag is not the province of children. There are age-appropriate ways to offer children gay role models, minus the addition of sexualized themes.” While parents may want to expose their children to a diverse array of content, the drag community is an often hyper-sexualized scene to which parents should wait to expose their children. For example, if you look at the author’s FB page, you will find posts that promote mature, adult-only events. Consequently, this book serves to introduce children to a sub-genre of the LGBTQIA+ community that is primarily aimed at adults. Thus, the book smacks of a political agenda aimed at indoctrination, desensitization, and grooming of very young children.”
“Saw this featured at my local library. Read it to myself there. No thanks. This is a prime example of adults going out of their way to try to make something suitable for kids that is appropriate for adults only. I don’t have a problem with drag… but I do have a problem with the author/society trying to indoctrinate young children with their own views.”
“Dragphobic as some reviewers here have said in response to one-star reviews is so telling. The normalization of exposing young children to drag is tantamount to child abuse. OK Groomers.”
“A drag queen book for ages 2-7? Stop this madness. Leave the kids alone.”
It’s worse than that. Many of the inappropriate books are immediately available as ebooks or audiobooks. The kids dont even need to wait for the bookmobile to show up.
I had an email exchange with the director of the Ames Public Library and the head of Teaching and Learning at the Ames School District last year. I was basically told that the two are separate entities and that the law does not address the public library’s actions or policies – even though they did not deny that the current system is clearly designed to skirt the law.
I want to add that it’s not just books about sex – although they can be bad. One children’s book, a graphic novel called “Flamer” depicts a scene were boys are masturbating into a jar with anyone not participating having to drink the results.
You have to ask yourself who it is that wants this material in the hands of our young children? Why is it so important to them that they will fight to keep this homosexual behavior in the hands of very young children – what is their goal? What are they motivated by?
But almost as bad is the endless stream of social justice books, etc that indoctrinate young people with the myth of white privilege and systemic black racism. These books should be examined for factual content VS wild speculation, supposition and incarruare historical assumptions. They are socially destructive books that harm the very people they pretend to help.
[…] On Tuesday, we highlighted the book “If You’re A Drag Queen and You Know It.” Read about that here. […]