Publishers Refuse to Become Complicit in Texas Book Banning

Texas’ HB 900, which will require book vendors to review books and rate them, determining if they are “sexually explicit” or “sexually relevant,” is set to go into effect September 1. And now, the country’s largest book distributor to schools, Follett School Solutions, has asked publishers to rate their books.

Thing is, what constitutes as acceptable under the new Texas law is largely unclear, and guidelines on how to rate books still hasn’t been provided, which Follett officials have acknowledged.

That’s not the only reason, or even the main reason, that publishers haven’t taken to rating their books, though. One publishing exec said that doing so would make them “complicit” in book banning.

In a statement, publisher Hachette said, “We strongly disagree with the idea that rating our books to flag certain content, or having retailers or wholesalers do this, is appropriate or helpful. We trust our teachers, trust our librarians, trust our parents, trust our student readers who are hungry to experience the world in all the ways that books allow.”