America’s most extreme book ban might be coming to MD’s Eastern Shore
Picture a 14-year-old in Somerset County walking into her school library this fall, looking for a book that feels like it was written for someone like her — a kid figuring out who she is. Under a policy her school board is seeking to enact, that book won’t be on the shelf, no matter what its title or pedigree as a coming-of-age classic.
Not this year. Not even when she’s a 17-year-old senior, weeks from graduation. That’s because the Somerset School Board, on Maryland’s Lower Eastern Shore, is pursuing a policy that, as drafted, would move all “young adult” books – that is, books classified by publishers and librarians as written for 12- to 18-year-olds – onto restricted, “adults only” shelves.
The board somehow believes this entire genre of books read by children growing up across America is too adult, too mature, too controversial for Somerset students. It would forbid all but a few Somerset students over 18 from browsing (or,perish-the-thought,reading) books on the newly restricted shelves.
And to ensure that, the policy would punish any librarian who allowed under-18 students to see the forbidden books.
What books would be restricted?
By its terms, the policy would restrict treasured classics that young people have come of age reading for generations: To Kill a Mockingbird; The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank; A Wrinkle in Time; The Outsiders; Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry; Little Women. All verboten.
The all-white Somerset board that took office in 2025 (governing a school system that is two-thirds students of color) is fast becoming notorious for its authoritarian streak.
So — what to do?
Teachers in the county should post a list of all banned books on their classroom bulletin boards with a cover sheet warning DO NOT READ THESE BOOKS.
Assuming there is a public library in the county, the librarians should make a display of the banned books, but extra copies, and reserve them for checkout only by students.
Any bookstores in the county should offer the banned books for sale at discount.