Henrico parent withdraws request for review of youth novel

The parent who initiated a formal review of the youth novel “A Good Kind of Trouble” in order to have it removed from Henrico school libraries withdrew his or her request on Tuesday after the process had been underway for more than three months.

The parent withdrew the request on Tuesday, one day after the Citizen published an article about the request for review. The withdrawal occurred by phone, so there is no record of the conversation. A HCPS official said it was a “personal decision for the family” and that the student in the family  will not check out the book from the library.

In the original complaint, the parent wrote that the purpose of the book is to “indoctrinate” students. The parent said that there was nothing good in the book and that Henrico County Public Schools officials should “focus on educating our children, not teaching or offering material supporting any political ideology or militant group.”

The novel, written by Lisa Moore Ramée and published in 2019, is about a 12-year-old Black girl who gets in trouble at school for wearing a Black Lives Matter armband, but sticks up for what she believes in and pushes back against school authority.

The parent noted in the complaint that he or she objects to the “support of a political/Marxist group.”

One of the three co-founders of the Black Lives Matter organization said in 2015 that she and another co-founder of the organization are Marxists. However, the movement has hugely broadened since then, and now is now a campaign that generally stands for anti-racism and is supported by many Americans, few of whom would identify as Marxists.

The parent who submitted the complaint has a child at Gayton Elementary School in the county's Far West End, according to the complaint. The student population there is 77% white and 4% Black, significantly less diverse than the overall student population of the school system (35% white and 36% Black).

The parent spoke with the school’s principal and filled out the official request for review form Jan. 24 according to the complaint, which was obtained by the Citizen through a public records request. The form was submitted on March 12 and the review process began March 13, according to the document.

There are 33 copies of the novel available at 16 elementary schools and six middle schools. The book has been checked out more than 160 times since it was added to HCPS libraries in July 2019.

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Anna Bryson is the Henrico Citizen’s education reporter and a Report for America corps member. Make a tax-deductible donation to support her work, and RFA will match it dollar for dollar. Sign up here for her free weekly education newsletter.