North Brookfield school committee asks for full elementary library list after objections to several titles

Three members of the Town of North Brookfield School Committee asked administrators on Monday to provide the full list of new elementary-library books for review after several committee members identified specific titles they considered inappropriate for K–5 readers.

The request followed an extended discussion about how the district acquires and vets library books. At the meeting a committee member identified A Good Kind of Trouble and Snapdragon among titles on the new-books list that raised concerns.

Why it matters: committee members said parents should be able to see what their children can check out from the school library and have an avenue to object to specific items. The committee directed administrators to compile the complete elementary-school new-books list and return to the school committee next month with the materials for further review.

The committee discussion began after administrators distributed a packet listing recent library additions. A committee member said she had reviewed about 40 pages and found two titles that “jump right off the page” and asked how the list was compiled. The superintendent said the new-books list was prepared by the librarian with oversight from the (then) elementary principal and the current principal, and that some titles arrived through donations and some were purchased with available library funds.

Committee members said they were surprised the list covered only K–5; the superintendent confirmed the packet under discussion was for grades K–5 and that separate libraries exist for higher grades. One committee member noted the new-books packet was 37 pages and asked that it be made available to parents in PDF form.

Concerns voiced included potential age-inappropriateness and whether parents are given notice. A committee member said one of the flagged titles, A Good Kind of Trouble, features a 12-year-old protagonist and scenes involving protests and activism; another flagged title, Snapdragon, was described in the meeting as a story involving gender and sexuality elements that some members considered sensitive for elementary grades. The superintendent and other administrators said the books had been screened by the librarian and principals as age-appropriate and emphasized that the presence of a title in the library does not mean every student will check it out.

Action and next steps: a committee member moved to table further action until next month so members could review the full list and identify any titles they wanted further examined. The motion was seconded and the item was set for reconsideration at the next regular meeting, when the committee expects to receive the full elementary new-books list and to decide whether to form a library subcommittee or to pursue a parent-notification/opt-out process.

What was not decided: the committee did not remove any titles at the meeting and did not adopt a new parental opt-out process; committee members discussed options including publishing the new-books list to parents and allowing parents to request that particular titles be flagged for their child.