A local education advocate’s social media post about the books at a branch of the Hennepin County Library system recently went viral as she called out the library for stocking shelves with titles from “DEI-obsessed publishers.”
Cristine Trooien, the founder of Minnesota Partnership for Achievement and the Minnesota Parents Alliance, said she recently visited a Hennepin County library with her 11-year-old and found a trove of “agenda-driven books” aimed at young readers.
In a thread on X, Trooien said the books her and her child found at the library included “LGBT characters and activism,” “traumatic childhood experiences,” “no nuclear families,” “mental health problems,” and “parents as villains.”
“Mom, all these books are about the same thing”
✅ LGBTQ characters and activism
✅ Traumatic childhood experiences
✅ No nuclear families
✅ Mental health problems
✅ parents as villains, some other adult like a teacher as the trusted grown up pic.twitter.com/G9FH9CuzmW— Cristine Trooien (@CTrooien) August 20, 2026
One of the books Trooien highlighted in her post was an LGBT-themed book called “Family Week” which bore a sticker categorizing it under “children’s fiction.” That book is about a vacation that is “kind of like gay Christmas,” where gay families gather in a small town.
Other “children’s fiction” books Trooien highlighted were “Banned Books, Crop Tops, and Other Bad Influences” and “Just Ask Elise,” a story about a fifth-grader who, among other things, learns about consent and “the difference between sex and gender.”
Another book, “Winnie Nash Is Not Your Sunshine,” follows a girl who is avoiding telling her grandma she is gay. Trooien also highlighted books with “teen fiction” labels on them which included “Straight Expectations,” “I Can’t Even Think Straight,” and “Unpregnant.”
She also posted multiple photos which appear to be from her library trip. In one photo, an LGBT flag can be seen hanging in a reading area. Another photo shows a designated “teen space” where an LGBT-themed “All Are Welcome Here” sign is on display.
“Public libraries used to be sanctuaries for intellectual exploration, but similar to public schools, ideologues have captured and hollowed them out to be little more than taxpayer funded outposts for promoting their narrow political views,” Trooien wrote in her post.
“And to be clear — my issue is that young readers literally have to sift through entire shelves of these agenda-driven books, not just one or two, in order to find one anything they would actually want to read,” she added. “It is 100% true that library collections have been aggressively culled.”
“You will be pressed to find any of the timeless titles that have been on middle and high school reading lists for decades,” Trooien said. “The vast majority are brand new, published by DEI-obsessed publishers within the last 5 years. And they are all the same themes.”
Alpha News contacted Hennepin County for this story and asked about its book collection.
A spokesperson for the county said everything on the shelves of Hennepin County libraries “is shaped by the library’s collection development policy and aligned with the library board policy endorsing the Freedom to Read and the Library Bill of Rights.”
The spokesperson also said the county’s library collection consists of materials selected by staff to reflect resident interests and materials requested by patrons. Residents can also submit up to five title requests per month for the library to add to its shelves.
Further, the spokesperson noted that state law forbids book bans based solely on a book’s message or viewpoint. He also said “there is truly something for everyone at the library” and library staff work to monitor trends and help people find what they are looking for.
“That responsiveness shows up in many genres,” he added. “I recall seeing a note following the murder of Charlie Kirk; the library purchased additional copies of his materials to be ready for people who might have been hearing about him for the first time.”
Rachael Van Rossum
Rachael Van Rossum is a journalist and author who studies political science in the Twin Cities. She previously interned with the Illinois House of Representatives and recently published her debut fantasy novel "The Hellburner of Sovi." Rachael is passionate about telling compelling stories and bringing to life the voices of political figures, athletes, and members of her community through engaging writing. She is the Alpha News journalism fellow for the summer of 2026.
