Bloomsbury
A school system in North Carolina banned one of New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas' books.
On Tuesday, the Central Media Advisory Committee for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools voted to ban Maas' novella "A Court of Frost and Starlight," as Kimberly Ray, the district media specialist for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, said in a statement to Insider.
According to the school's internal policies, the committee is responsible for the "review and removal of books" as a result of material that is "educationally unsuitable, pervasively vulgar or obscene, or inappropriate to the age, maturity or grade level of students." It was created after North Carolina passed its "Parent's Bill of Rights" law in August, which allows parents to challenge what books their children have access to in the state's public schools.
The committee reviewed Maas' book, "Tricks" by Ellen Hopkins, and "Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts)" by L.C. Rosen due to appeals from parents about the texts. Maas' book was submitted because of its "sexually explicit" content, as one parent told local outlet WSOC-TV.
"As a result of this meeting and much discussion, the Committee voted to retain 'Tricks' and 'Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts),'" Ray said in the statement sent to Insider.
"While the committee voted to remove the physical copies of 'A Court of Frost and Starlight,' it supports student access to the digital version of the text through ONE Access, a partnership with the CM Public Library," the statement continued. "Parents may opt out if they do not want their students to access the title that way."
Bloomsbury
Maas and Bloomsbury did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
"A Court of Frost and Starlight" is part of Maas' "A Court of Thorns and Roses" series, which follows Feyre Archeron as she wades into a land of faeries.
There are five published installments of "ACOTAR," and Maas has confirmed she is working on the next book in the series. Characters from "ACOTAR" are also set to appear in the third installment of her "Crescent City" series, "House of Flame and Shadow," which will be released in January.
Maas is hugely popular, with Bloomsbury reporting that her books have sold millions of copies. She's also particularly famous on BookTok, where #actoar has been used over 7.5 billion times.
But despite her large fan base, this isn't the first time one of Maas' books has been banned. PEN America reported that the second installment in the "ACOTAR" series, "A Court of Mist and Fury," is among the most banned books in US schools for the 2022-2023 year, as it has been banned 27 times. The book "Empire of Storms" from her "Throne of Glass" series was also on the list with 22 bans to its name.
Book bans have been on the rise in recent years as a whole, with "sexual content" being the primary reason people complained about texts, according to The Washington Post. The outlet also reported that the majority of book challenges for 2021-2022 came from just 11 people.
