First SC state-level challenges include 1984, Romeo and Juliet, To Kill a Mockingbird, YA titles

Books challenged at the state level can be removed from all schools

Independent thought is prohibited, surveillance is everywhere, and censorship is standard fare. What makes this novel so compelling is that Orwell writes from the inside that such governments are horrific states in which to live.

-Excerpt from the summary included with the state-level challenge against 1984

Eagle-eyed intellectual freedom advocates recently found a list of challenged books to be discussed, appropriately, on Halloween by the South Carolina State Board of Education. (For more information on how to participate in that hearing, click here or read on.) The seems to be available only in a newly-added link at the bottom of the State Board of Education subsection of the South Carolina Department of Education website.

The chair of the Instructional Materials Review Committee, notably, is Christian Hanley, who has been supported in the past by Moms for Liberty.

The list, along with its “staff recommendation” notes for each title, confirms many of the predictions of those who voice…