Library Board Upholds Call Me Max After Packed Public Hearing

ASHEBORO, N.C. (ACME NEWS) — The Randolph County Public Library Board of Trustees voted Thursday to keep the children’s book Call Me Max in its current location after a packed public meeting.

More than one hundred people filled the Historic Courthouse in Asheboro for the Oct. 9 meeting, which included more than an hour of public comments from nearly 30 speakers. The session marked the final step in the library’s reconsideration process following a formal challenge.

Earlier this year, local resident Dorris Welborne filed a request for reconsideration after checking out Call Me Max along with several other children’s books. In her public comments Thursday, Welborne said she was unaware of the book’s subject matter when she borrowed it. She later argued that its discussion of gender identity was not appropriate for young readers and asked that the title be removed or relocated within the library.

Library Director Ross Holt reviewed the challenge under the county’s Reconsideration Policy, which requires complainants to read the book in full and state specific objections. In a Sept. 23 letter, Holt recommended that Call Me Max remain in the collection, citing professional reviews and the book’s educational value.

Welborne appealed Holt’s decision to the Library Board of Trustees, which heard the case during Thursday’s regular public meeting. A copy of Holt’s letter was later shared by County Commissioner Lester Rivenbark, who posted it on Facebook and criticized the decision, saying the book “has no place in our public library.”

A total of 28 people signed up to speak during the public comment period of the meeting.

During deliberations, board member Martha Stunda spoke against keeping the title, saying she would prefer to see it removed entirely. Board member Richard Wells suggested adding a “PG” label or placing it on a higher shelf “to be out of reach of smaller children.” However, the nine-member board ultimately voted 5–2 to uphold Holt’s recommendation.

Call Me Max — the subject of the controversy — was written by Kyle Lukoff, a former school librarian and Newbery Honor author. The book was added to the library’s children’s collection in 2021 after local parents requested materials that reflect transgender experiences. The title was included on American Library Association's 2021 Rainbow Book List. According to Holt, it has been checked out five times since its addition and is the only children’s title in the library’s 19,000-volume collection that directly addresses transgender themes.

Thursday’s meeting and the debate over Call Me Max coincided with Banned Books Week 2025, an annual campaign that highlights efforts to restrict or remove books in libraries and schools nationwide.

Under the county’s policy, now that the Board of Trustees has issued a final decision, no further challenges to Call Me Max may be submitted for five years.

IN THEIR WORDS

Quotes from the public comments period
—
Cassie Link
“I’m not here to argue about the content of I Am Max—to me, that’s irrelevant. What matters is the principle. A public library is supposed to be a place of access, not censorship. When we start banning books because they make someone uncomfortable, we set a dangerous precedent. If we applied that same standard across the board, we’d have to pull classics, history books, and even the Bible, which includes stories of violence, betrayal, and even rape. But we keep those works because they matter.”

Claire Johnson
“You can choose that lifestyle as an adult, but to open it up to children — I know it’s not the only book in that library about homosexuality or transgender. I’m sure this is the only one you’re talking about today, and for me, I’m not for banning books. None of us on this side have said ‘ban that book,’ even though, really, truthfully, I’d love to burn it — all of it. But I would not push that on anyone else… All those books on transgender — especially for a child, a child — think about that. That book should be put somewhere else and let an adult come ask you, ‘Do you have any books on that?’ If they want to expose that to their children, they have that right. But do not make it available; do not push that agenda. It’s wrong. It’s wrong.”

Chip Foust
“We have to love our neighbor as we love ourselves and you are not loving your neighbor when you tell a child —7 year old child— that they don't belong in this neighborhood because we're going to ban a book that talks about your lifestyle. You know, I'm a single father; I have two daughters. Now to many people, and in some religions, that’s a sin. I shouldn't have been able to raise my two daughters, I can’t imagine if my daughter was 7 years old and they came to school and they were being told that the whole community wanted to ban a book that talked about being raised by a single father. All hell would break loose in my household. We can not do our neighbors this way.“

Jonathan Burris, pastor at Sophia Baptist Church
“We reject the dystopia of Fahrenheit 451. There are no firemen in the building looking to ban or burn books. We affirm the first amendment, but allowing an agenda driven author to advance tansgender visibility through youth literature, while challenging societal discomfort, by targeting and endangering the development of 5-7 year-olds is beyond the pale. You are grossly violating your own policy. The book needs to be relocated from the children's room to an age appropriate section.”