Craft’s books were pulled from district libraries and an event was canceled last week after a parent complained the works promote “critical race theory” and “anti-white” rhetoric. The district’s initial move caused concern among many other parents, community members and advocates who said it appeared the district wanted to censor “the Black experience” from its libraries.

“Earlier this week, the review committee met and determined the appropriateness of the book, ‘New Kid,’” a statement from the district read. “The reading material is already back on district library shelves, and the virtual author visit is scheduled to take place on October 25 as part of the instructional day.”

Parents who do not wish for their children to listen to the event may opt them out of participating, the district said.

The acclaimed, award-winning books, “New Kid” and “Class Act” follow a Black preteen as he navigates the challenges of attending a predominantly white private school. Craft said the books are based on the experiences of his two sons.

Attempts to reach Craft for comment Friday were unsuccessful. In a statement published online by the The Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association on Oct. 6, Craft said his goal in writing the books was to help kids see themselves in literature and to depict children of color as “just regular kids.”

“As an African American boy who grew up in Washington Heights in New York City, I almost never saw kids like me in any of the books assigned to me in school,” Craft said. “Books aimed at kids like me seemed to deal only with history or misery.”

The author said he also felt it was important to depict the kinds of struggles he faced as a student.

“I wanted to illustrate the things that kids like me had to face on a daily basis — like teachers confusing you with another kid of color, or classmates being afraid to come to your house because they assume you live in a bad neighborhood,” he said.

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Jay Lewis, father of a sixth-grader in Katy ISD, said that having grown up as a Black child in a military family who moved around a lot, he appreciates Craft’s stories.

“I was often the new kid, just like the character in the book,” he said. “That anyone would see that perspective as problematic is just odd to me.”

Lewis said parents should give their kids a chance to read the book for themselves, whether they agree with the message or not.

“Even if you think something is controversial, as a parent, the harm isn’t in the controversy,” he said. “The harm is when you don’t give your kids a chance to sort of explore and have that conversation with you as a parent, so that you can guide them through it.”

The push to cancel Craft’s initial event was led by Bonnie Anderson, a former Katy ISD board of trustees candidate, who once sued the district for $100,000 for requiring masks in the 2020-21 school year. Anderson dropped the lawsuit when the district announced it would not require masks during the current school year.

In addition to claiming the books teach critical race theory, Anderson also alleged they promote Marxism.

A now-deleted change.org petition initiated by Anderson garnered fewer than 500 signatures in a district of nearly 90,000 students, but due to district protocol, the books temporarily were pulled from shelves and placed under review.

“I’m not surprised the district caved to the pressure with every media outlet headline reading ‘Katy ISD cancels black author’ as if that had anything to do with the issue,” Anderson said in an email on Friday. “The fact is the district is permitting Critical Race Theory content into their elementary school classrooms and there’s no going back on the harm that inflicts on children of all ethnicities.”

In a Friday public Facebook post, Anderson said that Katy ISD, “caved out of fear of being called ‘racist.’”

Anderson also said in the post that Katy ISD’s decision is not a defeat and that she is “just getting warmed up.”

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Any parent may dispute a library book, said Laura Davis, media relations representative for the district.

According to district protocol, the school system can’t “remove materials from a library for the purpose of denying students access to ideas with which the district disagrees.” However, it may remove library books “because they are pervasively vulgar or based solely upon the educational suitability of the books in question,” the policy states.

Katy ISD faced swift backlash after temporarily pulling the books from library shelves, with angry parents accusing the district of censorship and racism. A counter petition on change.org to have Craft’s books put back on school shelves and to reschedule his previously planned speaking event garnered more than 2,100 signatures in two days.

"It utterly disgusted me that this was brought on by one parent who is not a leader or representative of our school district," said Stephanie Sandoval, parent of two children in Katy ISD. "What does this teach our kids? Katy and Houston strive for diversity. The fact that this was even a possible issue blows my mind."

News of Katy ISD’s review of the books also prompted a wave of national support for Craft on social media, including one campaign to donate the graphic novels to Texas students.

In his statement, Craft thanked his supporters for championing his books.

“You have changed my life, in the same way that I hope to have changed yours,” he said. “And to my readers and fans around the world who tell me how much they relate to my characters, I can’t put into words how much your support means to me.”

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