‘Abbott Elementary’ Skewers the Nonsense of Book Banning

The newest episode of ABC’s Abbott Elementary tackles one of the most pressing issues facing schools in America today—book bans.

If you attended an American public school in the last decade or so, chances are you experienced a book ban yourself. In my case, my senior year of high school saw over 10 books in our English curriculum banned, one of which included The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein—a book about a golden retriever who dreams of becoming a race car driver.

Yep, that’s right. My school banned a book about a dog.

And while the religious parents in my school district who campaigned for the ban never saw the absurdity in this decision, it is certainly not lost on the writers of Abbott Elementary, who explore the issue in their latest episode, “Books,” with their signature blend of humor, wit, and empathy, culminating in a storyline that is as enjoyable as it is important.

At the beginning of the episode, Ava, the principal, goes to the library to return a copy of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men (we love a literate queen) when she runs into Ms. Inez, the librarian, and Barbara, a teacher at Abbott.

The trio gets to talking about how excited the kids are to read The Sassy Wizard Kid, a parody of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, which follows Jamiroquai Gemstone, a young boy who grows up in a magical barbershop in Atlanta.

Unbeknownst to the three women, Krystal, a PTA mom, volunteer at the library, and CEO of Forever B**** Apparel, overhears their discussion and immediately disapproves of their book choice.

“As a Christian, I’m against magic,” Krystal says. This a somewhat ironic statement, given this is the same mother who has the word “B****” tattooed on her chest in large block letters.

“I’m a Christian too, and so what if it’s got a little magic?” Barbara replies, attempting to quell Krystal’s fears about the book.

“Yeah, but I also don’t like the way the wizard talks to his parents,” Krystal retorts.

Now, you might assume that Krystal formed this opinion on The Sassy Wizard Kid after reading the book herself. And if you did, you would be wrong. Not only has Krystal never read the book (something of a common occurrence amongst pro-book banners), but she found all this information off a Reddit thread called “Black Mamas on the Watch.”

Despite assurances from Ava, Barbara, and Ms. Inez that her daughter doesn’t have to read the book, Krystal threatens to take the issue to the school district if they don’t immediately remove it from the library. To avoid a confrontation, Ava acquiesces to her demands, accidentally setting off a book-banning campaign that soon spirals out of control, ultimately placing the future education of Abbott Elementary students at risk.

Since the episode dropped, people on social media have praised the show for its deftness in handling such an important topic.

“This was such a well-crafted episode that talked about the ban on books from a POV that shows, no matter how you slice it, it is dumb,” one fan wrote on X. “Let them kids read.”

“No cause they tryna put my girl Junie B on the banned book list fr #abbottelementary,” another user commented, referring to classic book character Junie B. Jones.

Others praised the show for not holding back on its depiction of how annoying book-banning parents can be, with one X user even posting a clip from the episode where Krystal and another parent claim they can be “real annoying” if the teachers don’t do what they want.

“mind you they already know that” the user joked.

At the end of the episode, the parents realize that the best way to help their children is to let them read The Sassy Wizard Kid and have a conversation with them about it afterwards, letting it be a teaching moment for the parents.

It’s a simple but smart solution, one that doesn’t seem to have crossed the minds of book banners in real life.