The Tennessee group “Moms for Liberty” is demanding that schools give up the freedom to choose the books appropriate for students to read and study – and the Williamson County School District is the latest battleground.
But the group’s list of books that should be censored is ludicrous – and includes removing one book because the watercolor illustrations of seahorses are too sexy.
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Sea Horse: The Shyest Fish In The Sea dares to show two seahorses holding tails or touching bellies as it describes the animal’s unusual mating ritual.
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“They twist their tails together and twirl gently around, changing color until they match,” the book reads. “Sea horses are faithful to one mate and often pair up for life. Today Sea Horse’s mate is full of ripe eggs. The two of them dance until sunset and then she puts her eggs into his pouch. Barbour sea horses mate every few weeks during the breeding season. Only the male sea horse has a pouch. Only the female sea horse can grow eggs.”
The group also objects to a book about Johnny Appleseed, a folklore hero who planted apple trees across the Midwest, because “the story is sad and dark.”
Another objectionable tome was a book about hurricanes, because “1st grade is too young to hear about possible devastating effects of hurricanes.”
A book about civil rights demonstrations has a “negative view of firemen and police,” while a fictional book about the Civil War read by fifth graders includes “out of marriage families between white men and black women” and depicts “white people as ‘bad’ or ‘evil.’”
“There are 31 books that our parents have expressed concern about,” the group’s leader wrote in an email to the Daily Beast. “Some books should be removed entirely. Some books are objectionable only because of how they are presented via the accompanying teacher’s manual. And yes, some books would be better suited to a higher grade level due to their age inappropriate content.”
The group insists that illustrations of seahorses touching tails together would be appropriate in the 8th grade.
