Annie's Foundation founder Sara Hayden Parris goes 'above and beyond' to counter book bans

Sara Hayden Parris will never forget reading "The Giver" when she was a student.

Lois Lowry's 1993 young adult dystopian novel — about a society that is without hunger or suffering but that also lacks color or emotion — taught Hayden Parris to question authority and shaped who she is today.

In some school libraries at the time, Hayden Parris wouldn't have had access to the book. "The Giver," with its violent scenes, dark depictions of death and sexual references, was one of the most challenged books in the U.S. in the 1990s.

Now, Hayden Parris is the president and founder of Annie's Foundation, a volunteer nonprofit that strives to ensure students have access to challenged books as Iowa school districts strip their shelves of titles with sexual content or LGBTQ themes to comply with sweeping new laws that have transformed education in the state.

Her efforts to help students have access to banned books has landed her among the Des Moines Register's 15 People to Watch in 2024.

Hayden Parris' work reflects local organizing efforts to counter conservative influence over local school districts and blunt the impact of Senate File 496, which bans books depicting sex acts from schools and prohibits instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in younger grades. Republican legislators who passed the law, which Gov. Kim Reynolds signed in May, have said their aim is to protect children from inappropriate content and pornographic material in schools.

There were 99 documented book challenges in Iowa school districts from August 2020 to May 2023 as parents objected to books — often featuring stories of LGBTQ people, people of color or sexual violence — that they felt were too profane, violent or explicit for schools. Republican legislators criticized the challenge process, which sometimes ended with districts deciding to keep books on the shelves, as too difficult. They channeled their frustration into Senate File 496, which now faces two federal lawsuits that accuse officials of violating the U.S. Constitution and discriminating against LGBTQ people.

Proponents of the law take issue with calling the books "banned," saying that the books are available through other means and that the goal is to make sure school collections are age appropriate. Meanwhile, Annie's Foundation gives out free copies of books that have been challenged or removed around the country to draw attention to the issue. The group believes its work boosts access to pieces of literature that reflect the diversity and the complexity of the world readers live in.

More: Which banned books have been removed from Iowa schools? Our updated database lists them

"We think that those stories need to be shared, and we should be making it easier for people to get access to those books and stories," Hayden Parris said.

It's a tall order for Hayden Parris and her foundation: Roughly 470 books have been banned from at least one school in Iowa as of mid-December — and counting, according to a database built by the Des Moines Register and based on public records requests.

Johnston school board controversies were her wake-up call

Annie's Foundation kicked off its work in 2022 with a goal of improving access to books and events, such as a farmers market read-in. The group's name honors the late Ann Lohry-Smith, an Ankeny mother who was involved in school board issues.

Hayden Parris, who lives in Johnston, said she started paying more attention to the Johnston school board in the fall of 2021. That year, against the backdrop of COVID-19 school policies and debate over how racial issues should be taught in schools, a conservative slate swept the Johnston school board elections.

Further controversy erupted over the three conservative candidates' ties to 1776 Action, a Republican Party-affiliated group. In 2022, the school board approved a Johnston High School chapter of Turning Point USA, a group that promotes conservative causes on school campuses. Hayden Parris was part of a group that appealed the board's decision, unsuccessfully, to the state Board of Education.

What stuck out most to Hayden Parris were two Johnston book challenges in late 2021, when two parents challenged the use in school curriculums of "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas and "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie. The parents objected to the way the books, which are about teenagers of color, portrayed race and felt they contained inappropriate content, including profanity and sexual language.

More: Iowa senator calls for felony penalty for distribution of 'obscene' materials in schools

High-profile book challenges popped up across the metro area in late 2021. Hayden Parris opposed what she saw as censorship, particularly of stories about LGBTQ people and people of color that she said could enlighten students in predominantly white suburbs like Johnston while reflecting people from underrepresented backgrounds.

"How do we help them find that empathy and that understanding and that desire to learn more when they're literally never exposed to it in their day-to-day lives?" Hayden Parris said. "And one of the best ways to do that is through books."

Public records requests reveal book challenges, removals

Alongside public-facing book giveaways, Annie's Foundation made aggressive use of public records requests to peel back the curtain on book challenges before Senate File 496 was passed and to reveal challenges that fell outside the formal process.

With the new law in effect, the group now uses records requests to detail the impact as districts remove books from shelves to comply. Annie's Foundation publicized the first known removal list in Iowa, a spreadsheet of nearly 400 books in Urbandale from July, which was soon whittled down to a few dozen entries after public outcry. The Des Moines Register's own reporting about book challenges and bans has leaned on data first obtained by Annie's Foundation.

More: Illustrated anatomy book among 73 removed by Iowa school district to comply with law

Emily Harris, an Annie's Foundation board member, said records work will continue to help people understand the effects of Senate File 496 while making clear the potential consequences for educators, who face state discipline for noncompliance.

"There's so much gray area in how this law is going to be interpreted or is being interpreted," Harris said. "And each district is doing things differently with different crazy results."

Annie's Foundation could grow with new local chapters, 'banned book wagon'

Annie's Foundation has also hit the road with a "banned book wagon" to hand out books at pop-up giveaways in various communities around the state as more lists become public. The group has traveled to Nevada, Sioux City, Sergeant Bluff and elsewhere.

Harris said it's one thing to read a list, but seeing the books themselves helps people understand what is happening and could inspire them to fight back.

"You're looking at little kids' picture books, and you're looking at board books, all the way up to the classics that you read in high school yourself," she said. "People have a very visceral reaction to that. It's very much like, 'Wait, what? These aren't in school anymore?'"

More: Largest US publisher, bestselling authors sue over Iowa law banning K-12 books with sex acts

Hayden Parris said the organization, which relies on small donations, will start to look at grants and long-term funding sources. She's also heard from people who want to start local chapters in their own communities.

"That might be something that we see in the future, which is exciting to think about, if not a little daunting," Hayden Parris said.

Annie's Foundation will have handed out 5,000 books by the end of this year and hopes to hit 10,000 by the end of 2024. The group also plans to continue drawing awareness to the work of state legislators and asking political candidates to sign a "freedom to read" pledge. Other work, which doesn't always deal with challenged books, has included filling Little Free Libraries and donating books to the Polk County Juvenile Detention Center.

"This is already beyond our wildest dreams," Hayden Parris said.

Access to books could help with student mental health and belonging, advocates say

Soneeta Mangra-Dutcher, a Johnston school board member who was reelected in November in this year's progressive wave, has worked on anti-bullying, suicide prevention and mental health advocacy causes. She said Hayden Parris and Annie's Foundation provide crucial support to those efforts.

"She really has used her voice to speak up for those that haven't been able to speak up," Mangra-Dutcher said. "She's unafraid to put herself out there and take the backlash that comes with that."

Mangra-Dutcher said the work of Annie's Foundation helps children access books in which they see themselves and can help them understand that being different is not something to hide.

More: Most Moms for Liberty, Republican-backed candidates defeated in Iowa school board elections

She hopes to partner with Annie's Foundation on an animal rescue reading event.

Mangra-Dutcher also recalled a time she learned of a colleague's 16-year-old daughter who wanted banned books for her birthday. Hayden Parris made that happen.

"She goes above and beyond what she has to do in our community," Mangra-Dutcher said.

Book removals, Hayden Parris said, can impact students' mental health and demonize their identities. The group also believes librarians and parents should be trusted to decide what's appropriate for students.

"It's about affirming to others that everyone's voices deserve to be heard, you have a story worth telling and there are people who want to hear it," Hayden Parris said. "Censorship is never the right path to go down."

Chris Higgins covers the eastern suburbs for the Register. Reach him at chiggins@registermedia.com or 515-423-5146 and follow him on Twitter @chris_higgins_.

Meet Sara Hayden Parris

AGE: 41.

LIVES IN: Johnston.

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree from The Ohio State University in world economy and business; master's degree from Des Moines University in health care administration.

CAREER: Associate director of administrative services for the Thielen Student Health Center at Iowa State University.

FAMILY: Husband, Luke; sons Jackson, 14, and Henry, 12.

About the Des Moines Register's 2024 People to Watch

It's a Des Moines Register tradition to close out each year and open the next by introducing readers to 15 People to Watch — individuals expected to make an impact on Iowa in the coming year.

This year's nominations from readers and our journalists totaled nearly 60 people and posed hard decisions for staff members charged with winnowing them to just 15.

The final 15 include people in business and the arts, those who train the world-class athletes of the future, chefs on the cutting edge, farmers teaching refugees how to run their own farms, and people fighting for representation through cosmetics and medicine. We hope that you are as inspired by reading about them as we were in profiling them.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: How a Johnston volunteer is battling school book bans across Iowa