{"id":4846,"date":"2020-06-24T12:53:08","date_gmt":"2020-06-24T17:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/?page_id=4846"},"modified":"2025-08-05T10:40:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T14:40:38","slug":"its-perfectly-normal","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/bannedbooks\/its-perfectly-normal\/","title":{"rendered":"Banned Books 2025 &#8211; It&#8217;s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health"},"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-3118\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/files\/2020\/06\/its-perfectly-normal-cover.jpg\" alt=\"It's perfectly normal\" width=\"303\" height=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mulibiiidb.marshall.edu\/record=b1773804\">Held at Marshall (Drinko Library Juvenile Collection &#8211; 613.9.H315i 2014).<\/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>2023<\/h2>\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>2023<\/h2>\n<p>On August 17, members of the groups Idaho Liberty Dogs and Concerned Citizens of Meridian spoke out against <strong>It\u2019s Perfectly Normal<\/strong> by Robie Harris and <strong>Sex is a Funny Word<\/strong> by Cory Silverberg during the public comments of the Meridian District Library\u2019s board meeting. They referred to the developmentally-appropriate sex education materials as \u201csmut-filled pornography\u201d and claimed it was \u201ctime to defund the Meridian Library Tax District.\u201d Both titles remain available throughout the library system.<\/p>\n<p><strong>It\u2019s Perfectly Normal<\/strong> was one of 58 titles withdrawn from libraries throughout the Walton County School District (FL). The list of titles was created by the Florida Citizens Alliance and given to the head of curriculum and instruction by a teacher who is a Moms for Liberty member. As no review committee was involved in the decision-making process, the district\u2019s policies were not followed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gender Queer<\/strong> and <strong>It\u2019s Perfectly Normal<\/strong> were challenged at Maine School Administrative District #6. Both were retained without restriction.<\/p>\n<h2>2022<\/h2>\n<p>A patron of the Cass County (MO) Public Library bypassed the library\u2019s Request for Reconsideration process and went directly to the county commission (both on social media and at board meetings) to demand the removal of this award-winning nonfiction book for youth. The library had owned the book since 1994. The concerns were pornography, sexual explicitness, and illegality because it showed a man kissing a man, a woman kissing a woman, was \u201cnot right,\u201d and a five-year-old might stumble across the book. Retained.<\/p>\n<p>Llano County (TX) Commissioners forced the library system to remove four books (<strong>I Need a New Butt<\/strong> by Dawn McMillan, <strong>Freddie the Farting Snowman<\/strong> by Jane Bexley, <strong>In The Night Kitchen<\/strong> by Maurice Sendak, and <strong>It\u2019s Perfectly Normal<\/strong> by Robie Harris) from circulation. After the commissioners handpicked members for a library advisory board, the library was closed for three days for \u201cinventory and proper cataloging of books.\u201d The library staff was directed to conduct a \u201cthorough review\u201d of every children\u2019s book in the library and assess their content. Additionally, the online service that provides access to magazines, electronic books, and audiobooks was suspended.<\/p>\n<h2>2020<\/h2>\n<p><b>It&#8217;s Perfectly Normal<\/b> has been hailed by parents, educators, psychologists, and doctors for its through and scientifically valid information concerning puberty and sexual topics. Arizona Republican State Rep. Kelly Townsend wrote a Facebook post calling on public school and county libraries to pull copies from their shelves based on the false claim that the book &#8220;depicted minors having sexual intercourse.&#8221;  The Maricopa County (AZ) Library District retained the book, finding it adhered to their collection development policy.<\/p>\n<h2>2017<\/h2>\n<p>Pulled from the Hudson Park Elementary School library in Rainier (OR). Officials with the Rainier School District noted the title is on the state-approved list of books allowed at the school, but in a letter sent home to parents, the school&#8217;s principal stated the books had been inappropriately passed out to fourth graders in the library. &#8220;Procedures have been put into place to make sure this doesn&#8217;t happen again. All questionable books have been pulled from library shelves,&#8221; the principal wrote in the letter.<\/p>\n<h2>2015<\/h2>\n<p>Challenged as an e-book at the Francis Howell middle school libraries in St. Charles (MO) because of cartoon nudity.<\/p>\n<h2>2012<\/h2>\n<p>Challenged, but retained at the Lee County (FL) libraries despite the book&#8217;s explicit illustrations.<\/p>\n<h2>2009<\/h2>\n<p>Retained in the Lewiston (ME) Public Library after a patron refused to return a book due to her objections to its content. Other patrons donated four copies of the book which remains in circulation at the library.<\/p>\n<h2>2008<\/h2>\n<p>A Lewiston (ME) patron refused to return the book to the Lewiston and Auburn public libraries because she was &#8220;sufficiently horrified by the illustrations and sexually graphic, amoral, abnormal contents.&#8221; A police investigation found the library did not violate the town ordinance against obscenity and the patron will stand trial for theft.<\/p>\n<h2>2006<\/h2>\n<p>Restricted, but latter, based upon a review committee&#8217;s recommendations, returned to general circulation shelves with some limits on student access in the Holt Middle School library in Fayetteville (AR) despite a parent&#8217;s complaint that it was sexually explicit.<\/p>\n<h2>2005<\/h2>\n<p>Challenged, but retained at the Holt Middle School library in Fayetteville (AR) despite a parent&#8217;s complaint that it was sexually explicit.<\/p>\n<h2>2004<\/h2>\n<p>Moved from the young adult to the adult section of the Fort Bend County Libraries in Richmond (TX). Also moved to the restricted section of the Fort Bend School Districts media centers after a resident complained via email about the book&#8217;s content.<\/p>\n<h2>2003<\/h2>\n<p>Challenged, but retained, in Montgomery County (TX) library system after the Republican Leadership Council characterized the book as &#8220;vulgar&#8221; and trying to &#8220;minimize or even negate that homosexuality is a problem&#8221;.<\/p>\n<h2>2002<\/h2>\n<p>Restricted in elementary and middle school due to objections of &#8220;value statements&#8221;.<\/p>\n<h2>2001<\/h2>\n<p>Challenged in Holland (MA) and Marion County (FL) public libraries due to sexually explicit content.<\/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-4846","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4846","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=4846"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15344,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4846\/revisions\/15344"}],"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=4846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}