Author of book pulled from Lake Travis ISD elementary schools speaks out, as district considers removing two more books
TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — The Lake Travis ISD board of trustees took up complaints filed against two books in the district’s libraries during a Wednesday night meeting, according to a LTISD spokesperson.
The two books are novels “The Haters” and “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” both written by author Jesse Andrews. According to the spokesperson, the books have been in LTISD since 2016 and 2017, respectively.
KXAN reached out to Andrews for comment on the potential bans.
The district declined to release information about why the complaints had been filed, but said that the board’s consideration came after a multi-stage review process. The books remained in the school libraries during that process, according to the district.
The spokesperson said Wednesday night that the board voted 4-2 to keep “Me, Earl and the Dying Girl” in circulation at the Lake Travis High School library. As for “The Haters,” the board voted 4-2 to remove the book from the library.
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It also moved the children’s book “Bodies are Cool” from elementary schools to a staff-only collection, after a 5-2 vote by the board at a November 2023 meeting. According to LTISD, the book was acquired in December 2023.
District students, and parents of students, spoke on the issue of banning books during that meeting, as reported by KXAN.
“Books do not hurt impressionable minds,” said Lake Travis High School student Carter Davis at the board meeting.
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Previously, the district removed the novel “I Never” by Laura Hopper from Lake Travis High School, and moved the novel “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson from its middle schools to the high school.
‘Bodies are Cool’ author: Book promotes empathy and self confidence
Tyler Feder, the author of “Bodies are Cool,” said that the bans were likely because of transgender representation in the book.
“I guess some people think that seeing a trans person being visibly trans is scandalous in some way,” Feder said. “There are queer and trans people in the world, and kids are gonna see them. I think normalizing those relationships and those bodies for young children, all it does is prevent bullying and promote respect.”
The book is illustrated pages of a variety of body types, showing how widely the human form can differ. On each page is some text (likely to be read aloud to a child by an adult) mostly just adjectives before “bodies.”
“Lanky bodies, squat bodies, tall, short, wide or narrow bodies, somewhere-in-the-middle bodies. Bodies are cool!” reads a page, which shows people on a public transport.
Feder said she had three “sensitivity readers” assist in the editing of the book, with each looking at how her book handled disability, race and transgender issues.
The book lets kids stare and fosters conversations between children and their guardians about bodies, Feder explains. That, to her, makes the opposition to her seem “goofy.”
“The whole point of the book was just to make kids feel confident in their own bodies and to be less judgmental of other people’s bodies. I don’t think there are a lot of people that would be opposed to empathy and self confidence,” Feder said.
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