Here are five examples of books or movies challenged in local libraries:
1. Avengers: Endgame. A patron challenged this PG-13 rated movie at the Dayton Metro Library saying it had an inappropriate sex scene. Library staff watched the movie and and found no hidden sex scenes in the movie.
2. Ritu Weds Chandni, by Ameya Narvankar. The picture book follows a young girl saving her cousin’s wedding, which involves two Hindu women marrying one another, and won multiple awards. A Dayton Metro Library patron complained about it. It was not removed from the library’s collection.
3. Ellen Foster, by Kaye Gibbons, was challenged at a Dayton Public Schools meeting by Carlos Buford of Black Lives Matter Dayton, who accompanied a Black parent to a school board meeting on Feb. 21. The book follows Ellen, who lives in an unspecified Southern town, through a tough family situation. Ellen has racist views towards Black people, but also has a close Black friend, Starletta. The book uses a derogatory term towards Black people. Elizabeth Lolli, DPS superintendent, told the parent to ask the teacher for a different book and said the book was not on the district’s approved curriculum list.
3. Glory, an R-rated movie about the Civil War, was deemed inappropriate by Kettering Schools for middle school students and removed from instruction at the middle school level.
4. Me, Earl and the Dying Girl, by Jesse Andrews, was removed by Brookville schools officials in November from the general library, where anyone in grades 4-12 could access it, and put into an area where a librarian would verify if the student was in high school and in a CCP class. The book ranks among the American Library Association’s list of most challenged books. It’s about a teenage boy who befriends a girl with leukemia, and is criticized for explicit language. Brookville Superintendent Jason Wood said the district is now doing a book audit to make sure other material is age appropriate.
5. Beavercreek City Schools officials are currently reviewing three books that are being questioned by a resident. Beavercreek Superintendent Paul Otten won’t identify what the books are, saying only they expect the review process to be done by the end of the month. The Dayton Daily News has put in a request under Ohio public records law for records identifying the books and will report the response.
