Danica Davidson
March 17, 2025 
The Las Cruces Sun-News out of New Mexico reports that the Coalition of Conservatives in Action has put together a list of about 100 books that it thinks shouldn’t be on the shelves of local public schools. The first two volumes of Assassination Classroom are on the list. This news comes about a week after Rutherford County Schools banned multiple volumes of Assassination Classroom.
The Coalition of Conservatives in Action titled their list “Parent’s Guide to 95+ Explicit Books in Las Cruces Public Schools: How to Protect Your Children from Porn in NM School Libraries.” In other words they’re arguing that Assassination Classroom, which is rated Teen Plus, is pornography. But if that were the case, it would have been rated 18+ or Mature.
Assassination Classroom is the only manga series on the list. There is one other Japanese title: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. Other books on the list include The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, Sold by Patricia McCormick, and Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire.
Sarah Smith, vice chair of the Las Cruces Coalition of Conservatives in Action, got the books from a list put out by a former member of Moms for Liberty. Other coalition members aided her in the process. “We were mainly trying to focus it on the content that parents might be most concerned about in terms of determining if it’s appropriate for their kids, depending on their age and their maturity level,” Smith stated.
Las Cruces High School Librarian Karen Hanson-Sharp disagreed with what the coalition is trying to do. She remarked, “Restricting access to books is detrimental and undermines the core principles of education, which should promote critical thinking, nuanced understanding of complex issues, and a well-rounded understanding of the world. Removing books from the library will not prevent teenagers from knowing about the themes or language they contain. It just means they’ll get their information from less reliable sources instead.”
VIZ Media publishes Assassination Classroom in America. It gave this description for the plot:
Assassination Classroom Plot
Meet the would-be assassins of class 3-E: Sugino, who let his grades slip and got kicked off the baseball team. Karma, who’s doing well in his classes but keeps getting suspended for fighting. And Okuda, who lacks both academic and social skills, yet excels at one subject: chemistry. Who has the best chance of winning that reward? Will the deed be accomplished through pity, brute force or poison…? And what chance does their teacher have of repairing his students’ tattered self-esteem?
Source: Las Cruces Sun-News
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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