Beaufort County parent pushes for statewide book ban decision. What’s next for schools?
Four additional books — including the “Perks of Being a Wallflower” — could be taken off of school shelves as early as February.
At the core of the movement is Beaufort County resident Elizabeth “Ivie” Szalai, known for her previous efforts to ban 97 books at Beaufort County’s district level. She appealed to the South Carolina Board of Education to remove six books with sexual content from schools and the state Instructional Materials Review Committee on Jan. 9 recommended removing four of these books, with a final decision expected at a Feb. 4 meeting with the full, 15-member board. If the state approves Szalai’s recommendations, this would be the first time a Beaufort County resident successfully achieves a state-level book ban.
The four books in question are listed below:
“Perks of Being a Wallflower,” a young adult novel by Stephen Chbosky that explores the complexities of adolescence through the eyes of an introverted high school student
“All Boys Aren’t Blue,” a memoir by George M. Johnson that details the author’s experiences growing up as a queer Black boy
“Flamer,” a graphic novel by Mike Curato that follows a bullied student navigating the identity challenges at a summer camp
“Push,” a novel by Sapphire that tells the story of a young girl overcoming severe abuse and adversity
The two books recommended to stay in schools by the state’s review committee include “House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros and “Bronx Masquerade” by Nikki Grimes.
The board followed guidelines set forth under Regulation 43-170, which allows the banning of books in all South Carolina public schools if the material contains any descriptions or visual descriptions of sexual conduct.
How did we get here?
In 2022, Szalai submitted a list of 97 books to the Beaufort County School District, citing inappropriate and pornographic content. The list included the four books currently being appealed to the state. Ultimately, only five books were banned by the district.
“My district conducted book reviews, but these committees were heavily biased, putting all but five books back on the shelf,” Szalai said at the review committee meeting. “I’d like to point out that a large majority of the reviewers were educators, and they thought this material was OK. The supporters of these books will tell you that Beaufort doesn’t support removing them, but how can they profess this when the committees were so biased?”
In 2024, Szalai was cited in two pending defamation lawsuits, where two teachers alleged they were falsely labeled as “groomers” on social media and podcasts. The harassment occurred after the movement to ban books in Beaufort County schools, which garnered national media attention including from CBS News’ 60 Minutes. Many of the defendants in the lawsuit supported the book ban.
That same year, Szalai reissued challenges to several of the books with Beaufort’s local board under Regulation 43-170. Since, the local board decided not to act on these challenges within the 90-day period, it is now left to the state board for consideration.
The Feb. 4 meeting will determine whether the four books will be added to the list of seven other titles already removed from all public schools by the state.
Szalai did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
