“It’s time for us to say goodnight to the nefarious influence of this book,” said one parent.
Photo by Millie You
The string of conservative-led book bans that began in 2022 has set its sights on a new title: Margaret Wise Brown’s classic 1947 children’s book, Goodnight Moon. During a recent San Diego Unified School District meeting, a motion was put forward by the group Moms Against Social Marxism (MASM) and the Society of Flat-Earther Fathers (SFEF) to ban the 32-page book from the schools’ collections. They later shared a post on X, formerly Twitter, detailing their reasoning: “We have a duty to monitor our children’s education, which doesn’t include fancy, rhyming books written by leftist Ivy League elites and the ghost of Che Guevara.” Likewise, MASM and SFEF have also called for the removal of DVD copies of HBO’s Emmy-winning 1999 special, Goodnight Moon & Other Sleepytime Tales.
Despite the two groups’ common goal, they have different rationales for wanting the book pulled from shelves. During an interview with SFEF Chairman Bob Roberts, he said, “The moon doesn’t exist. We need to stop telling our kids this drivel and start teaching them the obvious truth: what we see in the night sky is a projection lit by the French government.” At this point, Roberts began blowing on a dog whistle so hard that he passed out.
There is no proof to substantiate Roberts’ claim that the moon is a product of any government. Experts have dated the moon as being “approximately 4.5 billion years old, which, in fact, predates the existence of any human civilization.”
Meanwhile, the president of the San Diego chapter of MASM, Elisabeth Cloze, has an alternate justification for the ban. “Think about it, the rabbit’s talking to the moon. You know who went to the moon? The Russians. And when they went to the moon, what government was in charge of Russia? The Soviets. And what were the Soviets? Communists! Think about it.”
When asked for her perspective, one UC San Diego librarian, Marian Lyebarry, remarked, “I cannot believe I have to put Goodnight Moon in next year’s ‘We Read Banned Books’ campaign,” referring to the week-long event hosted by the Geisel Library during October. “It’s just about a little rabbit who is getting ready for bed. I don’t understand how anyone could possibly find
that controversial.”
Not all parents agree with Lyebarry. One recent poll showed that approximately 25% of San Diego parents agreed that the title should be banned. In the responses to one multiple-choice question asking parents why they thought the book should be banned, the most commonly chosen reason was that “the rabbit talking to the moon is a clear sign of paganist devil-worship, and the book should instead end with the rabbit burning at the stake for witchcraft.” The second-most selected option was that “the rabbit teaches children bad financial habits by letting the kittens and the mouse live in his home
for free.”
Despite the high-profile arguments occurring at school board meetings, many students seem unbothered by the debate. When asked his opinion on the ban, first-grader Mikey Schoemaker responded, “What’s Goodnight Moon? Is that from Cocomelon?”
A final vote will be made at next month’s district meeting to determine whether or not the book will be banned in SDUSD schools. A district representative said in a statement, “Ultimately, the decision is up to the parents — but in this economy, we might not have enough money for any books next year.”
