School District Allegedly Bans ‘Girls Who Code’ Books For Young Readers

A Pennsylvania school district has temporarily restricted the Girls Who Code book series, according to free expression nonprofit Pen America, which keeps an index of all the banned books across the country.

The four books in question—The Friendship Code; Team BFF: Race to the Finish!; Lights, Music, Code!; and Spotlight on Coding Club!—follow the journey of a group of girls involved in their school’s coding club.

This series, meant to spur on the interests of younger readers in the fields of STEM, was published by GWC, a nonprofit focused on narrowing the gender gap in the technology industry.

Authors Stacia Deutsch, Michelle Schusterman, and Jo Whittemore, alongside founders Reshma Saujani and Dr Tarika Barrett, condemned the district, explaining that the idea behind the series was “to get more girls, girls of color, interested in coding.” 

“To say that I find this unsettling would be an understatement. As CEO of Girls Who Code, as an educator, and as a mother, I know firsthand the power of books,” wrote Dr Barrett in a public statement on LinkedIn.

“At my organization, we always say that ‘you can’t be what you can’t see,’ and that’s what our books have stood for. We work, every day, to empower young people who haven’t imagined themselves in STEM to use coding to help themselves and their communities, to do good.” 

According to The Guardian, the Central York district has since “strongly denied” the ban, saying information given in an interview with Girls Who Code was “categorically false,” and that the books remain available in libraries. 

This isn’t the first time the region has come under the spotlight for similar reasons, having banned a list of teaching resources in 2020 suggested by the diversity committee, which included children’s books and documentaries. 

“What we are attempting to do is balance legitimate academic freedom with what could be literature/materials that are too activist in nature, and may lean more toward indoctrination rather than age-appropriate academic content,” said Jane Johnson, the district’s Board President at the time. 

Unfortunately, as per Pen America’s report, many of the books on the banned list involved LGBTQ+ themes or minority characters, which have faced opposition from over 300 groups calling for these titles to no longer be circulated. 

It’s estimated that 41% of banned titles include LGBTQ+ themes, while 40% have protagonists or important characters of color. 

This series was our labor of love, our commitment to our community to make sure that girls — all girls — see themselves as coders. You cannot be what you cannot see, and this was our effort to get more girls, girls of color interested in coding.@jowhittemore @GirlsWhoCode pic.twitter.com/C23VTgKyxZ

— reshmasaujani (@reshmasaujani) September 24, 2022

[via Mashable and The Guardian, cover image via Penguin Random House]