A school district in Texas removed books by an award-winning author from its schools' library shelves and postponed a virtual event he had been invited to because of a complaint that his books promote critical race theory.
Jerry Craft, a New York Times bestselling and Newbery winning author and illustrator, was invited to do a virtual visit by the Katy Independent School District, a suburb 30 miles west of Houston, Texas, on October 4.
It's routine for Bonnie Anderson to review her three children's school materials. From math homework to what they're reading in English class, Anderson, a former candidate for Katy ISD school board and the person behind the online petition to cancel Craft's virtual meeting, told CNN Thursday that she reviews it all to see what they're learning and to engage with her kids.
When she saw the flyer about Craft's virtual meeting set to take place during school, she rented his books from the library and after reading them herself said she was "alarmed" by the material.
"Once I had confirmed that this was critical race theory material, I started the petition and made other parents aware of what was in these books," she said.
Anderson said she didn't launch the formal complaint about Craft's books being on the shelves in school.
Her main concern was "that in a taxpayer-funded school, materials which are divisive and can only serve to perpetuate things like bullying or racism or pitting children against each other" are "just not appropriate." Craft's books, she said, are filled with microaggressions.