Native Americans really can never have nice things in this country. I know I'm fortunate to not have this, but I can't imagine growing up and realizing your parent is a bigoted moron.
North Woods removed books about racism, LGBTQ themes and the Holocaust from the school library. They pulled children’s classics and Newbery Award winners; bedtime stories and cookbooks. Books about dinosaurs and books by Native American authors, purchased with students from the nearby Bois Forte Reservation in mind.
Native Americans really can never have nice things in this country.
Krebsbach also talked to students, catering to their age groups, about what book banning means. According to the lesson plans he shared, one of the banned books he planned to use as an example for grades 4-6 was “Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets.”
But complaints flooded in from parents who heard about the display and some of the new books in the library. By the end of the week, Krebsbach was out of a job.
I know I'm fortunate to not have this, but I can't imagine growing up and realizing your parent is a bigoted moron.
I'll tell you what....it sucks. Especially since I recall my father in 1992 being a lot more 'live and let live' kind of conservative, by 1998 frothing about whatever Rush Limbaugh was frothing...
I'll tell you what....it sucks.
Especially since I recall my father in 1992 being a lot more 'live and let live' kind of conservative, by 1998 frothing about whatever Rush Limbaugh was frothing about, 2016 "not liking Trump but can't vote for a Democrat," and by 2020 being 100% supportive, more or less to this day.
The worst part though, is that dawning realization that you were in fact one of those bigoted morons, and now your parents kind of despise you because you won't tolerate their blatant racism and sexism at a kid's birthday party.
In the end, cutting them out was the best life decision I ever made. My only regret was not doing it 10 years sooner.
Incidentally, my father is why I knew Hillary Clinton didn't have a chance in the world of becoming president. The strong vehemence that permeates the Boomers at the mention of the word Clinton caused by right-wing radio in the 90s was a rallying cry against her too.
Incredible to see Puritanical views take hold. To the point that they ban what amounts to a damn comic book about two kids who accidentally create talking toilets... Not sure why that specific...
Incredible to see Puritanical views take hold. To the point that they ban what amounts to a damn comic book about two kids who accidentally create talking toilets...
Not sure why that specific detail hurt so much lol. I guess Captain Underpants was a major feature in my childhood, and definitely one of the series that showed me how fun it is to read a book. I can't believe that decades later, kids are being robbed of that opportunity. It feels like such a regression, that something so innocent and fun is deliberately being hidden.
What baffles me the most is that they banned the John Deere Farm-to-Table Kid's Cookbook. The people banning these books seem like the kind of "Tractors! America! Woo!" People who would like this...
What baffles me the most is that they banned the John Deere Farm-to-Table Kid's Cookbook. The people banning these books seem like the kind of "Tractors! America! Woo!" People who would like this book. I guess they really hated Quinn Krebsbach.
Well given how much damage they've done with their anti-repair stance on their tractors, clearly, John Deere is evil. I'm not sure if this comment is sarcastic or not but I'm leaving off the...
Well given how much damage they've done with their anti-repair stance on their tractors, clearly, John Deere is evil.
I'm not sure if this comment is sarcastic or not but I'm leaving off the sarcasm tag nonetheless.
I mean, yeah, they might be corporate bastards for being anti-right-to-repair, but generally the people banning books aren't the ones who get pissed about that, so it still stands out.
I mean, yeah, they might be corporate bastards for being anti-right-to-repair, but generally the people banning books aren't the ones who get pissed about that, so it still stands out.
It just doesn't stand out if there was no actual reason for pulling the book other than it being ordered by the same person in the same batch of books? The book itself is orthogonal to the bigotry...
It just doesn't stand out if there was no actual reason for pulling the book other than it being ordered by the same person in the same batch of books?
The book itself is orthogonal to the bigotry of the people involved which was the initial point. (I don't get your point essentially since this all goes back to the initial commenter's bafflement and you noting it stands out because they wouldn't typically want to ban it. My point is that they didn't particularly want to ban it. )
Okay, so here's my thought process: The fact is that the book was banned because of who ordered it, not because of the book itself. That's a given, now. The initial commenter was surprised by this...
Okay, so here's my thought process:
The fact is that the book was banned because of who ordered it, not because of the book itself. That's a given, now.
The initial commenter was surprised by this particular book being banned (presumably unknowing of the above fact).
The second comment (rightfully, in my personal opinion) notes the bastardry of John Deere as cause for the books removal. (We now know that this definitely wasn't the case).
My own comment then was that while I agree with the second person, people banning books might not, thus it is unlikely to serve as cause for book removal.
The fact that it was removed because of who ordered it renders the book removal unparticular, but I find that my own third comment still remains relevant in contrast to the second (even if the question as a whole has been rendered moot).
Not really with your immediate prior reply but it's also rather moot as well. Appreciate the effort though. Doesn't make sense to just talk past each other.
Not really with your immediate prior reply but it's also rather moot as well. Appreciate the effort though. Doesn't make sense to just talk past each other.
The part of this that really, truly blows my mind is that the "banned book" display was not a display of the actual books- only a whiteboard drawing depicting a selection of banned books. It's not...
The part of this that really, truly blows my mind is that the "banned book" display was not a display of the actual books- only a whiteboard drawing depicting a selection of banned books.
It's not clearly stated in the article if any of the 80 banned books ever made their way into any student's hands. Let alone, you know, actually informed their growing worldview.
The cycle of suppression at times feels closer to a progressing autoimmune disease than a human culture with any interest in children's wellbeing.
Whenever I read stuff I like this I feel like I'm reading about aliens. How can adults think like this? How can adults who function in the world make decisions like this? How can parents actively...
Whenever I read stuff I like this I feel like I'm reading about aliens. How can adults think like this? How can adults who function in the world make decisions like this? How can parents actively work to make the world worse for their children?
An author I follow (Malinda Lo), has been active in the fight against banning books, and she's shared a lot of the... I guess behind the scenes? stuff, and also what is involved in overturning...
An author I follow (Malinda Lo), has been active in the fight against banning books, and she's shared a lot of the... I guess behind the scenes? stuff, and also what is involved in overturning decisions like this. Her blog is interesting reading
I'll add a comment as someone outside the US, and a parent. I don't think the full list is shared anywhere, but it seems disingenuous to be pointing out a bunch on the list that seem harmless when...
I'll add a comment as someone outside the US, and a parent. I don't think the full list is shared anywhere, but it seems disingenuous to be pointing out a bunch on the list that seem harmless when the parents are complaining about "inappropriate sexual content".
Now, the full list might vindicate the librarian (and probably will is my guess), but this article doesn't feel very impartial.
I'm afraid that it seems disingenuous because the people who challenge these books are actually disingenuous. They are bad people who hate queer people and think that exposure to them will turn...
I'm afraid that it seems disingenuous because the people who challenge these books are actually disingenuous. They are bad people who hate queer people and think that exposure to them will turn their kids queer. I don't have a way to prove it, but this story has happened so frequently here in the US that I can practically guarantee that the books that they have mentioned are likely the most "graphic" titles because at least one of them - Gender Queer - is on ALA's list of most challenged books. The Bluest Eye and The Kite Runner are also very frequently challenged.
If parents wanted to discuss the ability of their children to access certain books, there were certainly better ways to do it than to remove them from shelves and to fire the queer librarian.
Not just queer, trans. So yeah, I assume everyone did what they could to find some reason to run Krebsbach out of town. North Woods School is a couple miles outside of Cook, MN, which itself is...
Not just queer, trans. So yeah, I assume everyone did what they could to find some reason to run Krebsbach out of town. North Woods School is a couple miles outside of Cook, MN, which itself is basically middle of nowhere Minnesota. Beautiful area though. If you ever go, check out the Tower-Soudan Underground Mine state park.
I've no reason to doubt you on the account. It's not like things are that much better here in Aus. Follow up question if you have the time, is a school like that for just young kids or is it like...
I've no reason to doubt you on the account. It's not like things are that much better here in Aus.
Follow up question if you have the time, is a school like that for just young kids or is it like a K-12 country school like we have here?
North Woods Secondary looks like it is a junior and senior high which means grades 7-12. It is apparently attached to an elementary school (K-6) and they share the library. A banned books display...
North Woods Secondary looks like it is a junior and senior high which means grades 7-12. It is apparently attached to an elementary school (K-6) and they share the library. A banned books display is incredibly common in libraries and the employee whose orders were targeted said this was not the first one he'd set up. The combined resources and the jr/sr high combo aren't unusual in smaller, more rural areas. No idea how big an area they serve but they have about 450 students all together or so.
And it's really not weird to have teen books in a shared library. Like the public library also does this.
This is absolutely an anti-queer, pro-censorship response by the school. "These books are banned for a reason" said one parent.
I swear I'm not making this up, no matter how much I wish I was. Post on Nextdoor was talking about library funding. One woman declares that the local library deserves to lose funding after a drag...
I swear I'm not making this up, no matter how much I wish I was.
Post on Nextdoor was talking about library funding. One woman declares that the local library deserves to lose funding after a drag queen storytime and the director should be prosecuted for corruption of minors.
That storytime had a bomb threat called on it. And that person's response basically boiled down to "they had it coming."
Yeah, I was uncertain about the article at first, but based on what everyone has shared, it all seems pretty gross. It sucks that people can be so horrible, and just get away with it. Hopefully...
Yeah, I was uncertain about the article at first, but based on what everyone has shared, it all seems pretty gross.
It sucks that people can be so horrible, and just get away with it.
Hopefully the assistant librarian (I've forgotten their name sorry) will get a better job at a place that will actually respect them.
The article states that the school and library cover grades K-12. I did some searching and found listings confirming the school is a rural public school, though it has separate departments for...
The article states that the school and library cover grades K-12. I did some searching and found listings confirming the school is a rural public school, though it has separate departments for elementary and secondary school (middle/high school). Found separate listings for them, but they seem to have the same address. So the library would have kids from ages 5 to 18 there.
Yea that's a pretty common setup. When you're talking less than 2,000 kids in the whole system, having a bunch of disparate schools is a lot less efficient than one bigger one.
Yea that's a pretty common setup. When you're talking less than 2,000 kids in the whole system, having a bunch of disparate schools is a lot less efficient than one bigger one.
I think the point is to highlight how the list itself isn't impartial. They just pulled all the books specifically ordered by one person, with no actual review of the content. Frankly even if they...
I think the point is to highlight how the list itself isn't impartial. They just pulled all the books specifically ordered by one person, with no actual review of the content. Frankly even if they needed time to directly review the books for inappropriate content, they could have easily eliminated several books like the cookbook or Charlotte's Web without needing to actually open them. At bare minimum, they responded to the complaints really poorly.
Also, as a reminder: bigots in the US deem literally anything LGBTQIA+ to be "inappropriate sexual content". Literally two people of the same sex holding hands would have them raging, let alone books about gender identity. They would only accept depictions of the most chaste, heterosexual relationships—and even "chaste" is optional as long as they're straight.
I can all but guarantee the complaints came from those sorts of people.
Krebsbach didn't even order them. He just recommended them. This article is kind of just brushing over the fact that the school district and parents turned Krebsbach into a scapegoat when clearly...
Krebsbach didn't even order them. He just recommended them. This article is kind of just brushing over the fact that the school district and parents turned Krebsbach into a scapegoat when clearly he wasn't the only one involved in the decision to buy the books. He wasn't even a librarian; he was an assistant librarian.
I'm honestly not sure if he had a direct boss, he may have ordered them. He was also lesson planning for 2nd and 4th graders per the article I linked. Which makes sense, we had library "class"...
I'm honestly not sure if he had a direct boss, he may have ordered them. He was also lesson planning for 2nd and 4th graders per the article I linked. Which makes sense, we had library "class" through 8th grade.
In schools other than this one, about censorship at least. And I vaguely recall learning about banned books too. We had reading time, practiced using it for research and learned about enjoying to...
In schools other than this one, about censorship at least. And I vaguely recall learning about banned books too. We had reading time, practiced using it for research and learned about enjoying to read in a way that English class didn't quite hit.
We also had Drop Everything and Read time too so idk, it was worthwhile I think.
Yeah, the scapegoating is clear, though unfortunately that seems to happen in most industries, save the organisation by firing someone looks like the go-to.
Yeah, the scapegoating is clear, though unfortunately that seems to happen in most industries, save the organisation by firing someone looks like the go-to.
Native Americans really can never have nice things in this country.
I know I'm fortunate to not have this, but I can't imagine growing up and realizing your parent is a bigoted moron.
Even worse, imagine never realizing that, and becoming part of the next generation of bigoted morons.
I'll tell you what....it sucks.
Especially since I recall my father in 1992 being a lot more 'live and let live' kind of conservative, by 1998 frothing about whatever Rush Limbaugh was frothing about, 2016 "not liking Trump but can't vote for a Democrat," and by 2020 being 100% supportive, more or less to this day.
The worst part though, is that dawning realization that you were in fact one of those bigoted morons, and now your parents kind of despise you because you won't tolerate their blatant racism and sexism at a kid's birthday party.
In the end, cutting them out was the best life decision I ever made. My only regret was not doing it 10 years sooner.
Incidentally, my father is why I knew Hillary Clinton didn't have a chance in the world of becoming president. The strong vehemence that permeates the Boomers at the mention of the word Clinton caused by right-wing radio in the 90s was a rallying cry against her too.
Incredible to see Puritanical views take hold. To the point that they ban what amounts to a damn comic book about two kids who accidentally create talking toilets...
Not sure why that specific detail hurt so much lol. I guess Captain Underpants was a major feature in my childhood, and definitely one of the series that showed me how fun it is to read a book. I can't believe that decades later, kids are being robbed of that opportunity. It feels like such a regression, that something so innocent and fun is deliberately being hidden.
It kind of feels like we’re walking in to a dark age
What baffles me the most is that they banned the John Deere Farm-to-Table Kid's Cookbook. The people banning these books seem like the kind of "Tractors! America! Woo!" People who would like this book. I guess they really hated Quinn Krebsbach.
They pulled every newly ordered book. That's why that one probably got caught up unless there's something weirdly objectionable to them in there.
Well given how much damage they've done with their anti-repair stance on their tractors, clearly, John Deere is evil.
I'm not sure if this comment is sarcastic or not but I'm leaving off the sarcasm tag nonetheless.
I mean, yeah, they might be corporate bastards for being anti-right-to-repair, but generally the people banning books aren't the ones who get pissed about that, so it still stands out.
They pulled every new book the employee ordered. It was not about content.
I mean, yeah, I saw that mentioned elsewhere.
But that is fairly orthogonal to whether book removers would consider John Deeres action to be evil.
It just doesn't stand out if there was no actual reason for pulling the book other than it being ordered by the same person in the same batch of books?
The book itself is orthogonal to the bigotry of the people involved which was the initial point. (I don't get your point essentially since this all goes back to the initial commenter's bafflement and you noting it stands out because they wouldn't typically want to ban it. My point is that they didn't particularly want to ban it. )
Okay, so here's my thought process:
The fact is that the book was banned because of who ordered it, not because of the book itself. That's a given, now.
The fact that it was removed because of who ordered it renders the book removal unparticular, but I find that my own third comment still remains relevant in contrast to the second (even if the question as a whole has been rendered moot).
I hope that brings my intention across?
Not really with your immediate prior reply but it's also rather moot as well. Appreciate the effort though. Doesn't make sense to just talk past each other.
The part of this that really, truly blows my mind is that the "banned book" display was not a display of the actual books- only a whiteboard drawing depicting a selection of banned books.
It's not clearly stated in the article if any of the 80 banned books ever made their way into any student's hands. Let alone, you know, actually informed their growing worldview.
The cycle of suppression at times feels closer to a progressing autoimmune disease than a human culture with any interest in children's wellbeing.
Whenever I read stuff I like this I feel like I'm reading about aliens. How can adults think like this? How can adults who function in the world make decisions like this? How can parents actively work to make the world worse for their children?
https://archive.is/fYRpC
An author I follow (Malinda Lo), has been active in the fight against banning books, and she's shared a lot of the... I guess behind the scenes? stuff, and also what is involved in overturning decisions like this. Her blog is interesting reading
https://www.malindalo.com/blog/2026/10/14/the-freedom-to-read
I'll add a comment as someone outside the US, and a parent. I don't think the full list is shared anywhere, but it seems disingenuous to be pointing out a bunch on the list that seem harmless when the parents are complaining about "inappropriate sexual content".
Now, the full list might vindicate the librarian (and probably will is my guess), but this article doesn't feel very impartial.
I'm afraid that it seems disingenuous because the people who challenge these books are actually disingenuous. They are bad people who hate queer people and think that exposure to them will turn their kids queer. I don't have a way to prove it, but this story has happened so frequently here in the US that I can practically guarantee that the books that they have mentioned are likely the most "graphic" titles because at least one of them - Gender Queer - is on ALA's list of most challenged books. The Bluest Eye and The Kite Runner are also very frequently challenged.
If parents wanted to discuss the ability of their children to access certain books, there were certainly better ways to do it than to remove them from shelves and to fire the queer librarian.
Not just queer, trans. So yeah, I assume everyone did what they could to find some reason to run Krebsbach out of town. North Woods School is a couple miles outside of Cook, MN, which itself is basically middle of nowhere Minnesota. Beautiful area though. If you ever go, check out the Tower-Soudan Underground Mine state park.
I meant to use "queer" as an inclusive term, but perhaps it should have been specified.
I've no reason to doubt you on the account. It's not like things are that much better here in Aus.
Follow up question if you have the time, is a school like that for just young kids or is it like a K-12 country school like we have here?
North Woods Secondary looks like it is a junior and senior high which means grades 7-12. It is apparently attached to an elementary school (K-6) and they share the library. A banned books display is incredibly common in libraries and the employee whose orders were targeted said this was not the first one he'd set up. The combined resources and the jr/sr high combo aren't unusual in smaller, more rural areas. No idea how big an area they serve but they have about 450 students all together or so.
And it's really not weird to have teen books in a shared library. Like the public library also does this.
This is absolutely an anti-queer, pro-censorship response by the school. "These books are banned for a reason" said one parent.
I swear I'm not making this up, no matter how much I wish I was.
Post on Nextdoor was talking about library funding. One woman declares that the local library deserves to lose funding after a drag queen storytime and the director should be prosecuted for corruption of minors.
That storytime had a bomb threat called on it. And that person's response basically boiled down to "they had it coming."
sigh no that sounds perfectly plausible. No convincing needed. Absolutely unreasonable. But not unbelievable in the slightest
I was hoping that somebody not in tune to America would be shocked.
Yeah, I was uncertain about the article at first, but based on what everyone has shared, it all seems pretty gross.
It sucks that people can be so horrible, and just get away with it.
Hopefully the assistant librarian (I've forgotten their name sorry) will get a better job at a place that will actually respect them.
Not really, seems par for the course going by what we usually hear about the goings on in the USA.
The article states that the school and library cover grades K-12. I did some searching and found listings confirming the school is a rural public school, though it has separate departments for elementary and secondary school (middle/high school). Found separate listings for them, but they seem to have the same address. So the library would have kids from ages 5 to 18 there.
Yea that's a pretty common setup. When you're talking less than 2,000 kids in the whole system, having a bunch of disparate schools is a lot less efficient than one bigger one.
I couldn't find what grade levels they taught, but typically US schools are split into elementary, middle / jr. high, and high schools.
I think the point is to highlight how the list itself isn't impartial. They just pulled all the books specifically ordered by one person, with no actual review of the content. Frankly even if they needed time to directly review the books for inappropriate content, they could have easily eliminated several books like the cookbook or Charlotte's Web without needing to actually open them. At bare minimum, they responded to the complaints really poorly.
Also, as a reminder: bigots in the US deem literally anything LGBTQIA+ to be "inappropriate sexual content". Literally two people of the same sex holding hands would have them raging, let alone books about gender identity. They would only accept depictions of the most chaste, heterosexual relationships—and even "chaste" is optional as long as they're straight.
I can all but guarantee the complaints came from those sorts of people.
Krebsbach didn't even order them. He just recommended them. This article is kind of just brushing over the fact that the school district and parents turned Krebsbach into a scapegoat when clearly he wasn't the only one involved in the decision to buy the books. He wasn't even a librarian; he was an assistant librarian.
I'm honestly not sure if he had a direct boss, he may have ordered them. He was also lesson planning for 2nd and 4th graders per the article I linked. Which makes sense, we had library "class" through 8th grade.
My library classes taught us how to use the card catalog and navigate the library. I wonder what they teach now.
In schools other than this one, about censorship at least. And I vaguely recall learning about banned books too. We had reading time, practiced using it for research and learned about enjoying to read in a way that English class didn't quite hit.
We also had Drop Everything and Read time too so idk, it was worthwhile I think.
Yeah, the scapegoating is clear, though unfortunately that seems to happen in most industries, save the organisation by firing someone looks like the go-to.