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Moms for Liberty - Polk County Chapter
Today many authors are publishing children’s literature with explicit/graphic sexual content that is beyond the scope our community has ever seen in the classroom or in a school library setting.
The Following Content is provided for the sole purpose of alerting parents of the content available to children in public and government school libraries and falls under the Fair Use Law.
Beware these books are available to some students in our Polk County school libraries.
*see examples of explicit content found in Polk County School Libraries HERE
A Content-Based Rating System works similarly to a movie rating system. In the system proposed here, an R-rated movie is equivalent to a Level 3 book due to explicit violence, explicit/ frequent use of profanity, sexual nudity, and references to sexual activity (not involving activities such as penetration and ejaculation). An example of a level 3 book would be “Me Earl and the Dying Girl,” by Jessie Andrews.
A Level 4 book rating is equivalent to a NC-17 movie rating. Movies that receive a NC-17 classification are considered too adult in nature for children. In fact, no one under the age of 17 is allowed to view these movies. Level 4 books have content containing explicit sexual nudity (depictions of sexual organs in a state of arousal) or obscene references to sexual activities (involving anal, oral, or vaginal intercourse, fingering, anilingus, or ejaculation). An example of this book would be “This Book is Gay” by Juno Dawson.
A Level 5 book contains explicit references to aberrant sexual activities such as sexual assault, battery, bestiality, or sadomasochistic abuse.
A Book/Content Rating system would allow the Board and Staff to establish objective, measurable parameters for evaluating books within a district. With this vetting system in place, the Board can then determine what type of content is age-appropriate for students in each district building.
Youth Advisory Rating Stickers https://tinyurl.com/yd363azn placed on the book’s cover would alert students, staff, and parents to ratings and offensive content. This is a widespread practice with media, tv, music, and video games. One choice of advisory sticker option utilizes a QR code linked to the exact content placing the title in a certain content rating tier. This system engages parents in their children’s education and allows them to review content, even if they don’t have the time to read the book in its entirety.
Sora is an online digital consortium that schools can subscribe to in order to expand their student resources to include e-books, audiobooks, and magazines. This online subscription also includes dozens upon dozens of Young Adult titles. Sora doesn't provide a way for the subscriber (district) to remove specific titles that may be inappropriate or violate district policy. This subscription is an "all or nothing" subscription.
How can I learn what’s in our District's Library?
Many public schools throughout Wisconsin and our nation use a digital library system called Destiny Discover. Once within Follette you can search the District as a whole or separately by building.
*NOTE the collections of individual classrooms or teachers may be exempt from this list.
Not sure where to start?
Parents have been diligently reading and working to bring you their findings. Here is a list of over 300 book titles you can search for in your district, let us know what you find.
Book information presented to School Board
Amery Book Collection of Rated Content
Osceola Collection of Rated Content
Clayton Book Collection of Rated Content
Frederic Book Collection of Rated Content
St. Croix Falls Book Collection of Rated Content
Luck Book Collection of Rated Content
Unity Book Collection of Rated Content