EXCLUSIVE: Utah mom launches National Book Rating Index to empower parental rights in schools

Stephens, the creator of the NBRI, told The Post Millennial that organizations such as PEN America will often report on so-called "book bans" but will often omit the contents of the books. Many of those books are sexually explicit, LGBTQ-centric narratives.

"By focusing on the act of removal rather than the reason for it, the public is being led on a 'wild goose chase' fueled by loose definitions and incomplete data," Stephens said, adding that the public is led to believe that libraries are "under siege by censors."

The NBRI, she said, is different in that it gives an "unbiased, primary-source evidence in the form of verbatim book excerpts, page numbers, and actual library inventory audits." Stephens told TPM that PEN America and other left-wing organizations calling fowl on "book bans" will often cite simple book audits—where books are held by groups to be audited for adult content—as outright "bans."

Age-appropriate such as 14 Cows for America have appeared on PEN America's list of "banned books" in Duval County, Florida. However, the title was only part of an audit before the book was put on the shelves in the county school libraries. The NBRI seeks to clear up these misconceptions and tell parents exactly what is in books some claim to be "banned" as well as give them the knowledge about what reading material would not be appropriate for their child.

The index itself allows parents to look up reading material held in libraries and then search through any challenges that the book may have faced in the past as well as the content that has been challened. The rating spans from "all ages" to "deviant content" and everything in between. Titles can be searched, and parents have at their fingertips any challenge the book has faced, for what reason, as well as specific excerpts from the reading material if book has been removed from library shelves.

"The word I use the most is informed choice, and most of this stuff is hidden. Parents aren't aware of it, and if you really want parents to have parental rights, they need to have the information," Stephens said.

Stephens said that when she set out to create the index and other similar tools, she did so because she as a parent herself wanted to protect her own children from explicit content. "I had been buying them for my son until my friend told me what was in the book. I just thought reading was amazing. I had no idea how sexualized this content was."

The NBRI, with the index, has created a custom "greenlight letter" form, which parents can submit to school libraries, and will only allow for books with certain ratings to be checked out by their children.

https://rumble.com/embed/v78hskc/?pub=2n05b