Whitewright ISD · Grayson County, Texas · May 11, 2026
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice maintains a list of books that are too explicit to be allowed inside Texas state prisons. The list is public. It runs over 10,000 titles. The reasons TDCJ gives for each denial are blunt and specific: page numbers, what is depicted, and which minors are involved.
LION cross-referenced the Whitewright High School library catalog — obtained through a Public Information Act request — against that TDCJ list. Fourteen books in the Whitewright HS library are denied to Texas prison inmates because of rape, child sexual abuse, incest, or sexually explicit imagery. Thirteen of those books are listed below with the State of Texas’s own stated reason for the prison denial. The fourteenth is a martial arts instructional book excluded from this report because the prison denial is for fighting techniques — a concern specific to incarcerated adults, not high schoolers.
The State of Texas has decided these books are inappropriate for adults serving prison sentences. They are currently on the shelves of a library serving 9th–12th graders in Whitewright.
| Title | Author | Reason TDCJ Denied It (verbatim, State of Texas) |
|---|---|---|
| Cinema: Year by Year, 1894–2004 | (reference) | Page 95 contains a sexually explicit image. |
| The Color Purple | Alice Walker | Pages 11 & 12 depict incest — stepfather/stepdaughter. |
| Crank | Ellen Hopkins | Page 341 contains a graphic depiction of rape. |
| Four Past Midnight | Stephen King | Pages 547 & 548 depict the rape of a minor. |
| The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | Stieg Larsson | Page 67 contains a sexually explicit image; pages 113–117 depict rape. |
| The Kiss | Kathryn Harrison | Page 128 contains incest — father/daughter. |
| The Last Juror | John Grisham | Pages 24, 25 & 26 depict rape. (Whitewright HS holds two copies.) |
| The Lovely Bones | Alice Sebold | Page 15 depicts sexual assault of a minor (age 13). |
| The New Encyclopedia of American Scandal | (reference) | Pages 102 & 232 contain sexually explicit images. |
| Perfect Match | Jodi Picoult | Page 17 depicts indecency with a child. |
| The Savage Detectives | Roberto Bolaño | Page 15 depicts sex with a minor (age established on page 3). |
| Sold | Patricia McCormick | Pages 102, 103, 120 & 121 depict sex with a minor (age 13). |
| World Without End | Ken Follett | Pages 497, 498 & 1085 contain graphic depictions of rape. |
Source: TDCJ Denied Books List (April 8, 2025) cross-referenced against the Whitewright HS library inventory received by LION via Public Information Act request on April 15, 2026. Reasons are quoted from TDCJ’s own unit-denial records. The full TDCJ list is publicly available from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
What This Means
TDCJ’s denial standard is not delicate. Texas prisons house adults who have, in many cases, been convicted of serious crimes. The state has nonetheless determined that the books above are too sexually explicit — or too graphic in their depiction of rape and child sexual abuse — to be safely held by those inmates.
Those same books are currently available, without restriction, to students at Whitewright High School — including freshmen who are 14 years old. The high school library at Whitewright is operated by a non-certified Educational Aide, not a credentialed librarian. There is no public record of a Local School Library Advisory Council. There is no record of a single book challenge in the past five years.
Parents in Whitewright did not put these books on the shelves. Parents in Whitewright can ask for them to be removed.
What You Can Do
1. Email the Superintendent and the School Board
Send a short, polite email to Whitewright ISD’s Superintendent and Board of Trustees. Say you are a community member or parent, that you have seen this list, and that you want these books reviewed for removal from the high school library. Public contact information for the district is at whitewrightisd.com.
2. Show Up at a Board Meeting
The Whitewright ISD Board of Trustees meets monthly at 315-A Highland Drive, Whitewright, Texas. Public comment time is available at each meeting. Speaking in person — even briefly — carries more weight than email. Meeting dates and agendas are posted on the district website.
3. Ask the District for Its Book Reconsideration Policy
Texas school boards are required to have a written process for removing materials. You can request the district’s policy in writing and use it. Ask for: (a) the current policy, (b) the form used to file a challenge, and (c) whether the district has a Local School Library Advisory Council.
4. Share This Report
Bring it to your church, your neighbors, your PTO, your friends with kids in the district. The State of Texas has done the hard work of identifying what is too explicit. Whitewright ISD only needs to act on it.
This report was prepared by LION — Local Integrity Oversight Network — from public records. Contact: lionwatchtx@gmail.com
