Nearly 100 books were temporarily pulled from school library shelves in South Carolina’s Beaufort County; most of the books were eventually returned after a review. 

The ban campaign kicked off when two county residents, one of them a parent and former member of Moms for Liberty  — a conservative nonprofit that advocates for “parental rights” — filed complaints. They presented a list of 97 books they alleged didn’t belong on school bookshelves. 

Where did the 97 books on the list come from?

The list of books originated from a site called BookLooks, founded two years ago by a Florida nurse who is a former member of Moms for Liberty. She said volunteers rate books on the site from 0-5 using BookLooks’ standards, including for “explicit sexual nudity” and “gender ideologies.” Each rating includes a count of how many times words that it judges to be obscene are used. 

A Beaufort County parent discovered that 96 books with ratings of 3 or higher from the BookLooks list were available in county public schools and wrote the school system to complain in October 2022. Another resident added a 97th book to the list. A small number of other parents and residents spoke publicly in favor of the proposed book bans. 

The school board’s procedure called for the challenged books to be left on the shelves while they were reviewed. However, the district superintendent feared violence after getting the list, because a few people were threatening to have librarians and other educators arrested. Within days, he had the books temporarily pulled from school library shelves while they were reviewed.

How did Beaufort County decide which books to ban and which to return?

The county began efforts to review the books by asking Beaufort residents to read all the books on the list. Over the course of a year, 146 parents and community members — along with teachers, librarians and educators — discussed, deliberated and voted. 

The final book panels met in late November and their decisions were approved during a school board meeting in December. Most of the 97 books were cleared, with some only returned to high school libraries. The review team discovered one of the 97 books on the list had never been on school library shelves to begin with.

Full list of the five banned books and the 92 that were returned

• “A Lesson in Vengeance” by Victoria Lee – returned to high school shelves
• “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson- returned to high school shelves
• “All the Things We Do in the Dark” by Saundra Mitchell – returned for all levels
• “Almost Perfect” by Brian Katcher – returned to high school shelves
• “Ask the Passengers” by A.S. King – returned for grades 6-12
• “Beautiful” by Amy Reed – banned 
• “Boy Girl Boy” by Ron Koertge – returned for all levels
• “Breathless” by Jennifer Niven – was not reviewed because there were never any copies in school libraries.
• “Burned” by Ellen Hopkins – returned to high school shelves
• “City of Heavenly Fire” by Cassandra Clare – returned for grades 6-12
• “Clockwork Princess” by Cassandra Clare – returned to high school shelves
• “Collateral” by Ellen Hopkins – returned to high school shelves
• “Confess: A Novel” by Colleen Hoover – returned to high school shelves
• “Cool for the Summer” by Dahlia Adler – returned for all levels
• “Court of Frost and Starlight” by Sarah Maas – returned to high school shelves
• “Court of Mist and Fury” by Sarah Maas – returned to high school shelves
• “Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah Maas returned to high school shelves
• “Court of Wings and Ruin” by Sarah Maas – returned to high school shelves
• “Crank” by Ellen Hopkins – returned to high school shelves
• “Damsel” by Elana Arnold – returned for grades 6-12
• “Eleanor and Park” by Rainbow Rowell – returned to high school shelves
• “Empire of Storms” by Sarah Maas – returned to high school shelves
• “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer – returned to high school shelves
• “Fade” by Lisa McMann – returned to high school shelves
• “Fallout” by Ellen Hopkins-  returned for all levels
• “Felix Ever After” by Kacen Callender – returned to high school shelves
• “Flamer” by Mike Curato – returned to high school shelves
• “Forever for a Year” by B.T. Gottfred – banned
• “Foul is Fair” by Hannah Capin – returned to high school shelves
• “Gabi, A Girl in Pieces” by Isabel Quintero – returned for all levels
• “Glass” by Ellen Hopkins – returned to high school shelves
• “Go Ask Alice” by Anonymous – returned to high school shelves
• “Grit” by Gillian French – returned to high school shelves
• “Grl2grl” by Julie Anne Peters – returned for all levels
• “Grown” by Tiffany D. Jackson – returned for grades 6-12
• “Half of a Yellow Sun” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – returned for grades 6-12
• “Hopeless” by Colleen Hoover – returned to high school shelves
• “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” by Erika L. Sanchez – returned to high school shelves
• “I’ll Give You the Sun” by Jandy Nelson – returned for grades 6-12
• “Identical” by Ellen Hopkins – returned to high school shelves
• “Impulse” by Ellen Hopkins – returned to high school shelves
• “It Ends With Us” by Colleen Hoover – banned
• “Kingdom of Ash” by Sarah Maas – returned to high school shelves
• “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” by Malinda Lo – returned to high school shelves
• “Layla” by Colleen Hoover – returned for all levels
• “Leah on the Offbeat” by Becky Albertalli – returned for grades 6-12
• “Living Dead Girl” by Elizabeth Scott – returned to high school shelves
• “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov – returned to high school shelves
• “Looking for Alaska” by John Green – returned to high school shelves
• “Lucky” by Alice Sebold – returned to high school shelves
• “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” by Jesse Andrews – returned to high school shelves
• “Milk and Honey” by Rupi Kaur – returned to high school shelves
• “Monday’s Not Coming” by Tiffany D. Jackson – returned for grades 6-12
• “More Happy Than Not” by Adam Silvera – returned to high school shelves
• “Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult – banned
• “November 9” by Colleen Hoover – returned to high school shelves
• “Oryx and Crake” by Margaret Atwood – returned to high school shelves
• “Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope Perez – returned for all levels
• “Perfect” by Ellen Hopkins – returned to high school shelves
• “Push” by Sapphire – returned to high school shelves
• “Ramona Blue” by Julie Murphy – returned to high school shelves
• “Red at the Bone” by Jacqueline Woodson – returned to high school shelves
• “Rumble” by Ellen Hopkins – returned to high school shelves
• “Scars” by Cheryl Rainfield – returned for grades 6-12
• “Shine” by Lauren Myracle –  returned for grades 6-12
• “Skin” by Donna Jo Napoli – returned to high school shelves
• “Smoke” by Ellen Hopkins – returned to high school shelves
• “Sold” by Patricia McCormick –  returned for grades 6-12
• “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson – returned for all levels
• “Stamped” (AD, YA, YD, and for Kids versions) by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds  returned for grades 6-12
• “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein – returned for all levels 
• “The Black Flamingo” by Dean Atta – returned for all levels
• “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison – returned to high school shelves
• “The Carnival at Bray” by Jessie Ann Foley returned to high school shelves
• “The Duff” by Kody Keplinger – returned for all levels
• “The Female of the Species” by Mindy McGinnis – returned to high school shelves
• “The Fixer” by Bernard Malamud – returned for all levels
• “The Freedom Writers Diary” by The Freedom Writers, with Erin Gruwell – returned for grades 6-12
• “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood – returned for all levels
• “The Haters” by Jesse Andrews – banned 
• “The Infinite Moment of Us” by Lauren Myracle – returned to high school shelves
• “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini – returned to high school shelves
• “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold – returned for grades 6-12
• “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky – returned to high school shelves
• “The Poet X” by Elizabeth Acevedo – returned to high school shelves
• “The Truth About Alice” by Jennifer Mathieu – returned to high school shelves
• “The Upside of Unrequited” by Becky Albertalli – returned to high school shelves
• “The You I’ve Never Known” by Ellen Hopkins returned to high school shelves
• “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher – returned for all levels
• “This One Summer” by Mariko Tamaki – returned to high school shelves
• “Tilt” by Ellen Hopkins – returned to high school shelves
• “Tower of Dawn” by Sarah Maas – returned to high school shelves
• “Tricks” by Ellen Hopkins – returned to high school shelves
• “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen – returned for all levels
• “Wintergirls” by Lauire Halse Anderson – returned for grades 6-12
• “Yolk” by Mary H. K .Choi – returned to high school shelves
• “YOLO” by Lauren Myracle – returned for all levels

Editor’s note: 97 Books Producer Henry Schuster is a resident of Beaufort County, South Carolina. He participated on one of the book review committees before beginning to produce the report for 60 Minutes.

Scott Pelley

Scott Pelley, one of the most experienced and awarded journalists today, has been reporting stories for “60 Minutes” since 2004. The 2023-24 season is his 20th on the broadcast. Scott has won half of all major awards earned by “60 Minutes” during his tenure at the venerable CBS newsmagazine.