Dirty Books: RuCo School Board Takes Closer Look

fate of 7 books to be decided thurdsday
Chase Matheson - September 18, 2024
RUTHERFORD COUNTY -- 7 Books are up for challenge at the Rutherford County School Board meeting on Thursday September 19, 2024.

Beloved by Toni Morrison
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Queen of the Shadows by Sarah J Maas
Perks of Being a WallFlower by Stephen Chbosky
Skin and Bones by Sherry Shahan
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory MaGuire
&
Tower of Dawn by Sarah J Mass 

Conservative criticisms of the books surrounds passages some claim are obscene while others argue the books are appropriate for high school libraries. It's important to note the School Board only has a votes on if books in Public School Libraries are "obscene" under state law. They have no control on which books are available at the other Public Libraries throughout Rutherford County. 

Below are some excerpts from the books in question, provided to us by citizens opposed to housing these books in school libraries where minors could read them. 

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Beloved Page 24: "Overwhelmed as much by the down-right luck of finding her house and her in it as by the certainty of giving her his sex, Paul D dropped twenty-five years from his recent memory. A stair step before him was Baby Suggs’ replacement, the new girl they dreamed of at night and fucked cows for at dawn while waiting for her to choose. ...It was over before they could get their clothes off. Half-dressed and short of breath, they lay side by side resentful of one another and the skylight above ..."
Homegoing page 143: "Abena took off her wrapper and heard Ohene Nyarko suck in his breath, removing his own. At first they just stared at each other, taking their bodies in, comparing them with what they’d know before. ...He reached for her, and she flinched, remembering the last time he had touched her. How she had lain on the floor of her parent’s hut, staring up at the straw roof and wondering if there was more to it than that, the pain of it so outweighing the pleasure that she could not understand why it happened in huts across her village, the Asante, the world. ...Now Ohene Nyarko pinned her arms   down to the hard red clay. She bit his arm and he growled, letting go, until she hugged him back toward her. He moved like the knew the scenes that were playing inside her head. And she let him inside her. And she let herself forget everything but him. ...When they had finished, when they were sweaty and spent and catching their breath, Abena laid her head against his chest, that panting pillow, his heart drumming into her ear."

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West Page 12:
"…The dragon rested again but draped a wing over another archway, which lit up the puppet husband, wandering out in the night. Along came a puppet widow, with sprigged hair and high color, dragging along a protesting, flinty-toothed   daughter. The widow kissed the puppet husband, and pulled off his leather trousers. He was equipped with two full sets of male goods, one in the front and another hanging off the base of his spine. The widow positioned her daughter on the abbreviated prong in the front, and herself took advantage of the more menacing arrangement in the rear. The three puppets bucked and rocked, emitting squeals of glee. When the puppet widow and her daughter were through, they dismounted and kissed the adulterous puppet husband. Then they kneed him, simultaneously, fore and aft."
Skin and Bones page 194: "Kiss my neck. No, here. Harder. Yes." Alice purred. "It's okay to use your teeth."     Bones nibbled. Alice purred louder. "Ummm." Neither of them wanted to pull away. His hand drifted slowly to her breast. This time she pressed into it. His fingers roamed to her other breast, while she traced the side of his neck with her tongue. He'd never felt anything like this. No words could describe it. Her hand roamed down, down, down. His heart beat fast, fast, fat. And so loud he thought his ears would explode. Then she touched him there. God. She began rubbing circles through his sweat pants and boxers. Softly. More circles. Then squeezing him. Gently, then firmly. Her hand wrapped around him. Steady tugs. Bones wouldn't las another second like this. He hummed inside, little explosions of ecstasy, while he lost his innocence in a six-by-eight-foot compartment that wasn't going up or down."

Queen of Shadows page 644: "She would have preferred a little more privacy, especially with Rowan, who kept looking at her in that way that made her want to combust. Sometimes when no one was watching, he’d sneak up behind her and nuzzle her neck or tug at her earlobe with his teeth, or just slide his arms around her and hold her against him, breathing her in. One night—just one gods-damned night with him was all she wanted. They didn’t dare stop at an inn, so she was left to burn, and to endure Lysandra’s quiet teasing."

Perks of Being a WallFlower page 30: "And the boy kept working up the girl's shirt, and as much as she sat no, he kept working it. After a few minutes, she stopped protesting, and he pulled her shirt off, and she had a white bra on with lace. I honestly didn't know what to do by this point. Pretty soon, he took off her bra and started to kiss her breasts. And then he put his hand down her pants, and she started moaning. I think they were both very drunk. He reached to take off her pants, but she started crying really hard, so he reached for his own. He pulled his pants and underwear down to his knees. "Please. Dave. No." But the boy just talked soft to her about how good she looked and things like that, and she grabbed his penis with her hands and started moving it. I wish I could describe this a little more nicely without using words like penis, but that was the way it was."

Tower of Dawn page 513: "As if she could not touch enough of him. Chaol reveled in the fingers she dug into his clothes, as if they were claws seeking purchase. He slid his tongue against hers, and her moan as she pushed herself against him—Chaol backed them toward the bed, its white sheets near-glowing in the lantern light, not caring that his steps were uneven, staggering. Not with that dress little more than cobwebs and mist, not when he never took his mouth from hers, remained unable to take his mouth from hers. Yrene’s knees hit the mattress behind them, and she drew her lips away enough to protest, “Your back—” “I’ll manage.” He slanted his mouth over hers again, her kiss searing him to his very soul. His. She was his, and he had never had anything he could call such. Wanted to call such. Chaol couldn’t bring himself to rip his mouth away from Yrene’s long enough to ask if she considered him hers."
Currently, the entire School Board is made up of Republicans. Republican Board Members Claire Maxwell (chair), Frances Rosales (vice chair), Butch Vaughn and Stan Vaught are expected to support keeping the books in school libraries. Caleb Tidwell, Tammy Sharp and Katie Darby say they have serious concerns.

Thursday's meeting will be held at the Rutherford County Board of Education located at 2240 Southpark Dr. Murfreesboro, TN at 5:30pm. For more information about the books up for review you can visit BookReviewRC.com
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