Cameron R-1 school district sees reason and begins removing explicit books

In a shocking turn of events, the Cameron R-1 school district has been quietly removing challenged books from the high school library. These books that have been removed were previously challenged under a now rescinded policy for their “graphic” and “sexually explicit content”. A list of those challenged books can be found on our Dirty Book List.

Before I get too far into this article I would like to extend my gratitude to the Cameron R-1 school district and its board of education. It took more than 2 years, but they appear to have finally taken this explicit adult content seriously. I pray this is them taking steps to restore some good old fashioned family values to our small rural Missouri community. Please take the time to let them know you appreciate that they’re taking steps to protect our children and for beginning to restore parental rights.

The list of books we believe to have been removed

The following 8 books were among the first 80 books that were challenged.  Some of these books we physically held in our hands, some we found through the district provided Destiny access.  The district initially confirmed these books were in the district.  Our search today shows the books mentioned below are no longer present in the Cameron R-1 school districts high school library.

We will provide a link to a page for each of these books where you will find information about the book.  That page includes additional links with passages where you can read the content.  In one case, for the book Lucky, you will also find a link to video with some of its passages being read to the board in March of 2023.  Two years later it appears that horrible content is no longer in our public schools.  

WARNING !!  The text and video in the following itemized links contain explicit adult content that is NOT appropriate for children.

1. Lucky  by Alice Seabold- informational link – Video link
2. Lovely Bones by Alice Seabold- informational link
3. Like a Love Story by Nazemian- informational link
4. Friday by Robert Heinlein – informational link
5. Fallout by Ellen Hopkins- informational link
6. Smoke by Ellen Hopkins – informational link
7. The Duff by Kody Keplinger – informational link
8. Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott – informational link
9.  Maus by Art Spiegelman – informational link (We believe there were two of them, books 1 and 2 but cannot confirm)

How to search the library contents online

If you would like to confirm the absence of these books, or to see what other books are available in the Cameron high school library you can search for free using Go Follett.  Be sure to compare the description of the books you will find there to descriptions in the links above.  

Were other books removed?

Excellent question. We have submitted a Missouri sunshine law request seeking a full list of books that have been removed from the high school library. We are awaiting for the district to respond and provide us with those records. There will be an updated article once we receive and comb through those records. We hope to be able to provide you with a complete list of all the books that have been removed.

Why were the books removed?

The justification for the removal of these books is not yet clear.  At least 3 of the books, The DUFF, Lucky and Looking for Alaska were voted on by the book review committee to retain, with restrictions.  If or when a new vote was taken is unclear.  The link to the last found book review committee update is from the June 2024 school board meeting.  It is a document from the districts provider and will likely save to your downloads folder.

Because we were unclear about why these books were removed we included in our sunshine law request the documents that show the vote(s) by the committee to remove these books and any cited justification or cause for their removal. Once we receive and process those sunshine law requests we will be sure to provide an update.

Thank you, Cameron R-1 schools board of education

I would like to personally extend my sincere gratitude for your courage in finally taking a stand to protect our children and starting a much needed return to family values and morality in our community.  I hope you will consider providing an update at next weeks school board meeting regarding this matter. It is of significant interest to the community.

Please let us know how you’re deciding which books needed to be removed and your plans moving forward for further restrictions or removals.  Our children are our greatest treasure, thank you for recognizing they needed protected from harmful sexually explicit content.  I know it has been a stressful and difficult path, but those who do the right thing when its hard should be celebrated, not ridiculed.