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

An illustrated anatomy book is among the 73 titles that the Dallas Center-Grimes Community School District will remove from school shelves to comply with a new state law.

It's the first time the book, "The Way We Work: Getting to Know the Amazing Human Body" by David Macaulay, has appeared on a list of titles removed from Iowa schools, according to a Des Moines Register database that so far has gathered the books removed from 38 of 325 districts in Iowa.

The district says it has removed it and other books on its list ahead of the Jan. 1, 2024, deadline when Iowa schools and teachers would face penalties for having books with descriptions or depictions of sex acts under Senate File 496.

"It’s our collective goal to be intentional in our efforts to comply with Senate File 496, while also having a library that meets the needs of our students and staff," Superintendent Scott Blum said in a message to parents. "This work will continue over the next five weeks as we approach the January 1 deadline."

More: 'I did not write it to titillate a reader': Authors of books banned in Iowa speak out

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the law in May. The Iowa Board of Education has until Dec. 28 to begin the rulemaking process for Senate File 496, but has not issued a timeline for when districts will receive guidance on what books should be removed from school shelves, the Iowa Department of Education has previously told the Register.

In addition to banning all books that depict sex acts from K-12 schools, the law prevents teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through sixth grade and requires school districts to inform parents if a student asks to use different pronouns at school.

Senate File 496 is now the target of two lawsuits, one filed by bestselling authors whose books are banned and another on behalf of Iowa families.

42 books removed from Dallas Center-Grimes Community High School

Most of the printed and electronic books that have been removed in Dallas Center-Grimes were from the high school, where the district listed 42 titles out of about 6,000 in the collection there:

• "Shout" by Laurie Halse Anderson

• "13 Reasons Why" by Jay Asher

• "The Handmaid’s Tale" by Margaret Atwood

• "Muted" by Tami Charles

• "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky

• "Reader, I Murdered Him" by Betsy Cornwell

• "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer

• "The Freedom Writers Diary" by Freedom Writers and Erin Gruwell

• "Looking for Alaska" by John Green

• "What We Saw" by Aaron Hartzler

• "People Kill People" by Ellen Hopkins

• "Perfect" by Ellen Hopkins

• "Rumble" by Ellen Hopkins

• "Tilt" by Ellen Hopkins

• "Tricks" by Ellen Hopkins

• "Identical" by Ellen Hopkins

• "Impulse" by Ellen Hopkins

• "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini

• "Grown" by Tiffany Jackson

• "It" by Stephen King

• "Last Night at the Telegraph Club" by Malinda Lo

• "A Court of Mist and Fury" by Sarah Maas

• "Empire of Storms" by Sarah Maas

• "A Court of Frost and Starlight" by Sarah Maas

• "A Court of Silver Flames" by Sarah Maas

• "A Court of Wings and Ruin" by Sarah Maas

• "A Court of Thorns and Roses" by Sarah Maas

• "Kingdom of Ash" by Sarah Maas

• "Tower of Dawn" by Sarah Maas

• "Game of Thrones" by George RR Martin

• "Red, White, and Royal Blue" by Casey McQuiston

• "All the Things We Do in the Dark" by Saundra Mitchell

• "Shine" by Lauren Myracle

• "Like a Love Story" by Abdi Nazemian

• "The Word for Yes" by Claire Needell

• "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult

• "Where I Stopped" by Martha Ramsey

• "I Have the Right To" by Chessy Prout

• "The Nowhere Girls" by Amy Reed

• "History is All You Left Me" by Adam Silvera

• "We Now Return to a Regular Life" by Martin Wilson

• "Parachutes" by Kelly Yang

Anderson, Green, Lo and Picoult are the bestselling authors who are suing Iowa over SF 496. The other plaintiffs in that lawsuit are Penguin Random House, which is the largest publishing company in the U.S., and Iowa's largest teachers union. The plaintiffs are seeking to have the book ban portion of the law declared unconstitutional for allegedly violating the First and 14th amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal filed a separate lawsuit in the same week, on behalf of eight Iowa students and their families, as well as Iowa Safe Schools, a nonprofit that advocates for LGBTQ students.

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

School for seventh, eighth graders sees anatomy book removed

In addition to "13 Reasons Why" and "Like a Love Story" from the high school list, two more titles — for a total of four — have been removed from the Oak View school for seventh and eighth graders:

• "The Way We Work: Getting to Know the Amazing Human Body" by David Macaulay

• "Falling Hard: 100 Love Poems by Teenagers" by Betsy Franco

Macaulay's 2008 drawn illustrated book on human anatomy is reviewed by Amazon.com as a "comprehensive and entertaining resource" that Macaulay researched for years by sitting in on anatomy classes and dissections, and observing surgeries.

The retailer added, "Each beautifully illustrated spread details different aspects of our complex structure, explaining the function of each and offering up-close glimpses, unique cross-sections and perspectives, and even a little humor along the way. This one-of-a-kind book can serve as a reference for children, families, teachers, and anyone who has questions about how his or her body works."

The 336-page book explores things like cells, DNA and the skeletal and immune systems. Its index lists one page on sex, and includes references to "ejaculation," "erection," "penis," "semen," "sperm – during ejaculation" and "vagina."

The definition of a sex act in SF 496 includes "penetration of the penis into the vagina or anus" and "ejaculation onto another person." However, as written, school books with nonsexual nudity, or sexual scenes that fall short of these actions would still be allowed. The bill also creates two exemptions: Descriptions of sex acts will be allowed in human growth and development materials and in religious publications, including the Bible.

The Dallas Center-Grimes district did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why the book had been removed.

23 books removed from school for fifth and sixth graders

The district has removed 23 books from Dallas Center-Grimes Middle School for fifth and sixth grade students:

• "Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World" by Ashley Blake

• "The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James" by Ashley Blake

• "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender

• "Hurricane Child" by Kacen Callender

• "The Pants Project" by Cat Clarke

• "The (Almost) Perfect Guide to Imperfect Boys" by Barbara Dee

• "Keep it Together, Keiko Carter" by Debbi Florence

• "Lily and Dunkin" by Donna Gephart

• "The Paris Project" by Donna Gephart

• "Alice Austen Lived Here" by Alex Gino

• "Melissa" by Alex Gino

• "Rick" by Alex Gino

• "My Summer of Pink and Green" by Lisa Greenwald

• "Magical Boy (Volume 2)" by Kao Studios

• "Crushing It" by Joanne Levy

• "Peppermint Coach Crushers" by Lacey Nielson

• "Gender Identity" by Nicki Petrikowski

• "Gracefully Grayson" by Amy Polonsky

• "I’m With Cupid" by Anna Staniszewski

• "The List of Things that will not Change" by Rebecca Stead

• "Girl Online" by Zoe Sugg

• "The Language of Seabirds" by Will Taylor

• "Well, That was Awkward" by Rachel Vail

And at Dallas-Center Grimes' elementary schools for preschool through fourth grade students, a total of eight books have been removed, including Gino's "Melissa" and "Rick":

• "Prince & Knight" by Daniel Haack

• "Who is RuPaul?" by Nico Medina

• "And Tango Makes Three" by Justin Richardson

• "Love, Penelope" by Joanne Rocklin

• "To Night Owl From Dogfish" by Holly Goldberg Sloan

• "The Princess and the Warrior: A Tale of Two Volcanoes" by Duncan Tonatiuh

The district's total of 73 removed titles ranks it above the totals of lists of three other metro districts: Norwalk, Urbandale and Waukee.

Norwalk provided the Des Moines Register in August a list of 64 books flagged for removal. Urbandale had initially flagged 374 books for removal but later narrowed that list to 64 titles. And Waukee in October told the Register it had marked 22 books for removal.

More than 540 book titles have been removed in school districts as of mid-November, according to the Register database. Titles include memoirs, young adult books, classic novels, works of nonfiction and children's books with LGBTQ themes.

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

The lists are subject to change. The Dallas Center-Grimes district said in its statement that librarians will continue to review content until the Jan. 1 deadline.

"We also stand ready to respond to any guidance that comes from the Department of Education to ensure our continued compliance," according to the statement.

The district said it shared its list with the Dallas Center-Grimes Community School District Board of Education, staff and families on Nov. 27, before sharing the list with the Register the following day in response to an earlier records request.

Phillip Sitter focuses for the Des Moines Register on reporting on suburban growth and development in the western metro areas. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com. He is on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @pslifeisabeauty.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 'It,' 'The Handmaid’s Tale' among books removed by Iowa school district