Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at BruceLear2419@gmail.com 

There’s a scene in the 1974 movie Longest Yard, which I’ve always remembered. The prison warden forces Burt Reynolds, an incarcerated former professional football player, to organize a football team to play the guards.

In the huddle, Reynolds tells the offensive line to let a hated guard through. As the guard blitzes, the line parts and Reynolds hurls a pass into the guard’s groin.

The prisoners huddle, and Reynolds calls the same play: “Let’s do it again.” They do. The guard leaves the game in agony clutching his groin. 

Republican State Representative Skyler Wheeler, who chairs the House Education Committee, is signaling he may call the same play during the next Iowa legislative session that was called this year.

During last year’s session, Republican legislators tried to cut state funding if public libraries belonged to national organizations like the American Library Association. They also tried to remove the “obscenity exemption” in state law for public libraries. In 2024, they attempted to limit the oversight of library boards, to give city councils veto power over their decisions. All of those bills failed.

Republican lawmakers will probably try again.

What’s fueling another attempted attack? Last year public libraries came into the majority parties’ crosshairs, because of controversy about books in the Pella public library. Now, it’s Sioux Center’s public library causing a firestorm.

A 13-year-old checked a book out containing adult sexual scenes that was shelved in “adult section” of the public library. The teen chose Icebreaker; a romance novel hyped online by BookTok, a Tik Tok Community. It’s unclear whether the teen’s mom was with her when she chose the book. 

Even though the parents and some other community members wanted the book taken off the shelves, the Sioux Center Library Board voted 8-1 not to remove the adult romance novel.

Wheeler was outraged. In a formal letter he shared on his social media, he wrote, “I call on the library board members who voted against reasonable restrictions to reverse their decision immediately, and implement clear, enforceable policies that protect minors from explicit content.” He added that “at minimum,” policies must include:

• “Prohibiting minors from checking out materials from the adult section”
• “Establishing a transparent review process that gives parents—not unelected librarians—the final say on what is appropriate for children.”  

He also encouraged funding to be withdrawn if any county library didn’t comply.

I’m not advocating for children to read Icebreaker. That’s why it was in the adult section.  I haven’t read it, but according to multiple reviews, the book was clearly written for adults. At the same time, banning a book because one young reader checked it out is a massive overreaction, and so is Wheeler’s letter. Kids reading books with adult themes is nothing new. 

His letter implies “unelected librarians” are the problem instead of the professional solution. The librarian used her professional judgment and correctly put that book in the “adult section.” That’s the library’s clear policy.

If librarians did what Wheeler suggests, the Sioux County libraries could be in much smaller buildings because many classic works of literature would be missing. For example, there’s a discussion of rape in To Kill a Mockingbird. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of Catcher in the Rye, struggles with sexual issues as he grows up.

Not long ago, we heard from Governor Kim Reynolds that parents should oversee public schools. But it appeared she only advocated that power for parents with her political views. Which parents would be empowered to censor public libraries?

Parents should certainly monitor what their children read and watch, but they shouldn’t get to choose what we all read and watch. Neither should lawmakers.

Many parents shocked by books in the library seem oblivious to what their kids see via parent financed cell phones. I applaud the Sioux Center Library Board. They made a hard decision, but the right one.

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Top photo is by T.Vyc, available via Shutterstock.