{"id":11458,"date":"2022-08-08T11:32:02","date_gmt":"2022-08-08T15:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/?page_id=11458"},"modified":"2025-08-05T10:59:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T14:59:30","slug":"me-and-earl-and-the-dying-girl","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/bannedbooks\/me-and-earl-and-the-dying-girl\/","title":{"rendered":"Banned Books 2025 &#8211; Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: A Novel"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"marsha-row mt-4 mb-4 flex flex-wrap -mx-2 lg:-mx-6  justify-start border-0 border-gray-100 first:mt-0\">\n\t\n<p><!-- *  START LEFT COLUMN  *--><div class=\"columns w-full lg:w-3\/12  lg:px-6    mt-6\">\n<div class=\"\">\n\n<h2>Links<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a id=\"current\" href=\"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/bannedbooks\/bannedbooks-2025\/author\/\">2025 Author<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/bannedbooks\/bannedbooks-2025\/title\/\">2025 Title<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/bannedbooks\/\">Banned Books Home<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Cover<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3433\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/files\/2022\/08\/me-and-earl.jpg\" alt=\"me and earl and the dying girl cover\" width=\"304\" height=\"475\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mulibiiidb.marshall.edu\/record=b1798809~S12\">Held at Marshall University (Drinko Library Juvenile Collection &#8211; JF A457me).<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- *** ** END LEFT COLUMN ** ***-->\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/p><p><!-- *** ** START RIGHT COLUMN ** **--><div class=\"columns w-full lg:w-9\/12  lg:px-6    mt-6\">\n<div class=\"\">\n\n<p><strong>Marshall University does not ban books!  The information is provided to let people know what has been banned\/challenged elsewhere.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>2025<\/h2>\n<p>Banned or challenged for being sexually explicit and profanity.<\/p>\n<p>In September 2024, 59 titles were removed from all school libraries in the Council Bluffs Community School District (IA). The books included <strong>Me and Earl and the Dying Girl<\/strong>, <strong>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings<\/strong>, and <strong>The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/strong>.  Superintendent Vickie Murillo said the books were removed to comply with Senate File 496. This Iowa law requires schools to remove any library book containing a description of a sex act. Enforcement of the law was enjoined on March 25, 2025, due to constitutional concerns.<\/p>\n<p>A member of a parents\u2019 rights group created an online petition calling for the Platteville School District (WI) to ban five books and <strong>MAD<\/strong> magazine from the middle school library. Following district policy, a committee reviewed all challenged titles. Per their recommendations,  <strong>It\u2019s Perfectly Normal<\/strong>, <strong>Flamer<\/strong>, <strong>Me and Earl and the Dying Girl<\/strong>, <strong>Heartstopper<\/strong>, and <strong>MAD<\/strong> were retained. <strong>All Boys Aren\u2019t Blue<\/strong> was moved to the high school library.<\/p>\n<h2>2024<\/h2>\n<p>Banned or challenged for being sexually explicit and profanity.<\/p>\n<p>On June 13, the board of Hanover County Schools (VA) granted itself \u201csole discretion to remove any and all materials of its choosing from the library, classroom, school building(s) and or division.\u201d During the same meeting, the board voted unanimously to ban 19 titles from district libraries, including <strong>Me and Earl and the Dying Girl<\/strong>.  Moms for Liberty members subsequently targeted more than 100 additional titles with material downloaded from a book rating site. Of those, 75 were removed without review. The school board received guidance and gratis legal support from the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Southern Poverty Law Center\u2013designated hate group, and the School Board Member Alliance, an affiliate of the Family Foundation.<\/p>\n<h2>2023<\/h2>\n<p>Banned and challenged for profanity and being sexually explicit.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Me and Earl and the Dying Girl<\/strong> was one of 32 titles that a Moms for Liberty member challenged at the Humble Independent School District (TX). Some of these titles were removed from middle school libraries without review. Some titles now require parental permission for a student to check them out. The outcome for Andrews\u2019s novel is unknown.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Me and Earl and the Dying Girl<\/strong> was one of 21 titles reconsidered at Flagler Schools (FL), where it was withdrawn from all school libraries.<\/p>\n<h2>2022<\/h2>\n<p>Banned and challenged because it was considered to be sexually explicit and degrading to women.<\/p>\n<p>In the Hudson City (OH) Schools, Moms for Liberty challenged titles for language and \u201csexually explicit\u201d material. A decision on <strong>Me and Earl and the Dying Girl<\/strong> is pending. <strong>Lawn Boy<\/strong> by Jonathan Evison was retained on the school library shelves. <strong>Gender Queer: A Memoir<\/strong> by Maia Kobabe remains on the shelves for now but has been sent to a reconsideration committee. <strong>A Girl on the Shore<\/strong> by Inio Asano was removed by high school administration.<\/p>\n<p>In another challenge to <strong>Me and Earl and the Dying Girl<\/strong>, a man showed up at a school board meeting of the School District of Lancaster (PA) to say his 11-year-old daughter had checked it out from a middle school library. He read a section about oral sex from the book aloud and called for the resignation of the superintendent. After public comment, the superintendent apologized and said the book would be pulled for review. Subsequently, school officials learned that the book had not been checked out from any middle school library in the previous year, and became suspicious that the man had no child in the school district and had provided a fake name during the board meeting. The book was retained. The district\u2019s solicitor was consulted after concerns were raised that the book contained child pornography and violated the law; the solicitor said it did not constitute child pornography.<\/p>\n<h2>On These Pages<\/h2>\n<p>A <strong>Banned<\/strong> book has been removed from a library, classroom, etc.<br \/>\nA <strong>Challenged<\/strong> book has been requested to be removed from a library, classroom, etc.<\/p>\n<h2>For additional information contact<\/h2>\n<p>Ron Titus, <a href=\"mailto:titus@marshall.edu\">titus@marshall.edu<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"tel:304-696-6575\">304-696-6575<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Last updated<\/h2>\n<p>August 5, 2025<\/p>\n<p><!-- ** ** END RIGHT COLUMN *** *-->\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n<p><!-- *** * END FULL PAGE DIV * *** --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":784,"featured_media":0,"parent":2039,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-full-width.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11458","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/784"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11458"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15349,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11458\/revisions\/15349"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}