By Tim Fleischer
Editor-in-Chief

Salado Public Library District directors Dec. 1 voted 3-1 to keep the children’s book “When Aidan Became a Brother” on the shelves after hearing a request from Stephen Sequiera to remove it from the collection.

This is the second request for a book to be removed from the library collection.
More than 100 people squeezed into the Library’s children’s section with almost two dozen signing up to speak under public comments, from both sides of the issue.
The children’s book is among the more than 500 books that have been challenged in Texas school and community libraries. It is the winner 2020 Stonewall Book Award Winner from the American Library Association, among other awards.
“We love books and we love children,” Allison Dolin said, adding that it is “for us to be mindful of messages.” Dolin said the book “glorifies a mental illness” and libraries should not “engage in furthering an illness.”
“I read the book in question. I am just sorry it was not published when my children were smaller. It is a beautiful story. Is it ‘grooming’ children? Absolutely not! It teaches empathy and acceptance.”
“If the book is not for you and your family, then don’t read it,” she added. “No one has the right to say not fit for others.”
“We moved here in 2019 and then the world shut down. We were able to join the community through the library. I read every book I could as a kid. I don’t fear them. They represent many different values,” Laurianne Balcom said. She asked directors to protect the library as a “safe environment to be exposed to many different ideas.”
Former Salado librarian Karen Kinnison said she has been a supporter of the Salado Library for more than 25 years. “Books open windows to other lives, ideas, histories. When you remove them, you remove the ability to think, empathize and think critically. Today is one book, tomorrow many voices will be gone.”
Bill Kinnison said that the Library has the right people running it. “You have the right policies in place to protect children,” he said. “Parents understand those policies and can choose what their children read or don’t read.”
Austin Kelly said that he is trans, just like Aidan in the book. “Removing books will not remove LGBT stories. We are just as much in the community. All it does is make us feel less welcome.”
Charles Simmons said that “children are not able to discern,” and that books like When Aidan Became a Brother “encourages children that sexual transformation is acceptable. Young children cannot distinguish between the real and the make believe world.” Instead, he said, it is up to adults and libraries “to protect children from corrupt influences. This is not the only book that should be removed.”
Malcolm Davis said “I don’t think anyone but my parents should tell me what I should read. Don’t allow them (those who want books removed) to take my autonomy.”
“We don’t like the way you have been treated,” Debby Aldridge said of the Library staff and directors. “You can disagree but you don’t have to be so nasty about it. If you are that scared of a book, then stay away.”
“No government agency is going to make books inaccessible,” Cindy Sanders said. “The issue is that taxpayer dollars are being used to place a book in the children’s section that lies to children about their gender and that is wrong.”
“If you as a parent don’t want a child to read a book, then don’t let them,” Carla Hopkins said. “To deny another parent that choice is a denial of freedom.”
“In 1933 in Germany the Nazis started with censoring certain books, then starting burning books,” Ron Coleman said. “It ended up with all types of books being burned. We don’t need to start it now.”
Mary Kelch spoke of her daughter, who she said “grew up around all these things you are afraid of. She is not trans, she is not gay, she is amazing. When she came here she saw that kids had a lack of empathy,” adding that books like When Aidan Became a Brother could help teach empathy to children and adults.
Lisa Youngblood said that Salado Library had “a well thought out policy and set of procedures. The policy is sound.” She encouraged the board to follow that policy for careful review of books.
“There are explicit passage of rage, sodomy, infanticide and polygamy,” Myra Garza said, “yet we don’t ban the Bible. We understand context. This is not about protecting children, it is about controlling what other people’s children are allowed to read.”
Ryan Pratt said “What’s moral for you and Getting rid of a book simply because it deals with a subject you are not comfortable with isn’t going to solve the problem… the last thing I want from a library is for anyone to feel excluded.”
“I was concerned to see library staff from our community attacked… I would encourage anyone who came here in support of those attacks, be careful of who you hitch your wagon to. We can have a conversation about content and books, but we shouldn’t have personal attacks.”
Stephen Sequiera said that he was glad to see so many people get engaged with the issue. “I want to clear up a misunderstanding about what happened in the last board meeting. It wasn’t reported in the paper what all I said.” He said that there was no reporting in the paper that he said this was not talking about the competency of the staff or their personalities.
Sequiera told staff and board members at their October board meeting that “You all have been derelict in your duty to protect children… you are not fit for your positions anymore.” During that meeting he said his position had nothing to do with competence or personalitiy. “This is about what you make available to little children.”
He said then that a recent court decision allows libraries to “have the right and prerogative to curate materials that they make available to the community.”
The decision to keep When Aidan Became a Brother was what Sequiera then called “unconscienable. If you think that is okay, your moral compass needs adjustment.”
“I don’t think it is wise to suggest at such a young age that they can be boys if they are girls,” Linda Cawthon said. “Parents can buy the book for themselves.”
Library board president Nancy Mills Mackey had Jeanie Lively review the policies in place regarding children.
Parents can choose the level of access for their child. Children under 13 can check out books with a parent or guardian. There are three levels of cards for children: the Youth card allows access to E and Y books, where E is picture books and Y is chapter books; the Teen Card allows access to the Young Adult collection and the All Access Card allows access to all books.
She added that any patron can make a request for removal of book. That request is reviewed by a committee of five community volunteers who are randomly drawn. The committee is given copies of the books and information from the requestor regarding the objection. The committee can vote to remove the book, keep the book in its current collection or keep the book but move to a different collection. The committee decision is sent to the requestor and the requestor can appeal to the Board of Directors. Decisions by the Board of Directors cannot be challenged for three years.
The board voted 3-1 to uphold the Committee decision on a motion by Becky Huppert and second by Dana Rojas. Rojas, Huppert and Mackey voted in favor and Ray Lindner voted against.
Rojas read from the author’s statement “When someone says my book is inappropriate, they are saying I am inappropriate to be around children in the first place.” The author further states that books “can celebrate our differences and similarities, because that is what makes us human.”
Lindner said “I think there are better books. We don’t get to buy all the books, so we have to choose. We hire staff to do that for us. They do the best they can with the mechanisms in place to say whether a book is not approrpiate. I hope you respect that others think it is not appropriate. We all have opinions. We as parents expose our kids in a manner that is best for them. It’s not the same for all kids. It’s hard enough to parent. There are some places we are going to draw different lines. I know I don’t want my grandkids to read that.”
Huppert followed the initial motion with a second motion to move the book to the Parenting Section of the library. Lindner gave a second to the motion. Lindner and Huppert voted in favor and Mackey and Rojas voted against. The motion failed to carry.
Director Keith Cryar was absent as he was out of state for the meeting.