As a direct result of Republicans’ controversial HEA 1447 (2023) and SEA 442 (2025), one Indiana school corporation has just banned 6 books:
The Handmaid’s Tale, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Forrest Gump, Brave New World
Back in 2023, educators and librarians sounded the alarm over HEA 1447. Supporters of this bill downplayed their concerns and insisted the bill wouldn’t ban books; it would only keep obscene and harmful material out of the hands of students.
Well here we are, folks. The books on this list are best-sellers with serious literary merit. None of them meet the legal definition of “obscenity,” but thanks to pearl-clutching school board members emboldened by an equally pearl-clutching legislature, the thing they said would never happen has indeed happened.
The Garrett-Keyser-Butler school board also cited SEA 442 as additional justification for the ban, but this bill was written to add additional restrictions to sex ed curriculum in Indiana. Its application to English courses is completely out of scope.
Indiana lawmakers should have listened to what they were told. Censorship, book banning, and laws based on subjective morality have no place in a free society.
Interested in contacting the school corporation or writing a Letter to the Editor about this? Find resources here.