Dave Eggers’ Novel Was Banned From South Dakota Schools. In a New Documentary, the Community Fights Back (Exclusive)

In ‘To Be Destroyed,’ premiering Aug. 11 on MSNBC, Eggers visits Rapid City, where five books, including his own, were banned from high school classrooms

Bestselling author Dave Eggers wasn’t expecting to learn that his 2013 dystopian novel, The Circle, was removed from high schools in Rapid City, S.D. What's more, Eggers' book, along with four others, was designated “to be destroyed” by the school board as well.

“It was new to me, although the other authors that were banned have had the books banned again and again,” Eggers tells PEOPLE.

The decision to ban The Circle, as well as The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel and Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo, is the subject of the documentary To Be Destroyed, premiering on MSNBC on Aug. 11 as part of Trevor Noah's "The Turning Point" series. Directed by Arthur Bradford, the film follows Eggers during his travels to Rapid City, where he met with the teachers and students on the frontlines of the book banning fight.

Jill Haugo, a Rapid City teacher featured in the film, recalls the occasional objection to a book’s content throughout her time as an educator, but wasn’t prepared for the severity of the decision to destroy books.

Related: Sheila Nevins on Her Oscar-Nominated Documentary on Book Bans: ‘We Have to Make This Film’ (Exclusive)

“The scope of it, the aggressiveness with which we were forced to remove [books], the language of destroying books … it was larger and more than we expected,” she tells PEOPLE. The five titles, along with 38 other books selected by English teachers, were bought in 2021 for seniors to read the following school year, Eggers wrote for The Washington Post. The books would be divided into separate themes taught during the school year, and students would have the option to pick one of six books to read per theme. After school officials took issue with "brief sexual passages" they said each of the five books contained, they were ordered to be pulled from shelves and destroyed.

During his time in Rapid City, Eggers, who is also the founder of the youth writing non-profit 826 National, met with teachers like Haugo and attended school board meetings. He co-organized an event with his colleague Amanda Uhle at local bookstore Mitzi's Books, where community members came together in support of keeping the books on the shelves. Copies of all five banned books were also available to purchase at the store.

“We have to be able to defend why certain books are taught,” Eggers says. "And then on the other side, we have to be aware of and respect the processes that are in place where teachers and administrators approve of lists of books." One of the director's goals was to give all community voices a chance to speak; the documentary includes interviews with citizens in favor of the book removals, as well.

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"What I like about the film is that it gives a chance to have a conversation," Bradford tells PEOPLE, adding, "I think there is common ground for Americans to talk about this subject without demonizing each other."

Related: New Coalition Against Book Bans Launches Nationwide With Support From Authors Like Judy Blume and Julia Quinn

Though the five books did end up getting removed from the school district's shelves, recent years have brought major shifts to the Rapid City school board. Jamie Clapham and Michael Birkeland, the school board’s first Black woman and first openly LGBTQ+ board members respectively, won their elections in June 2022.

Even in light of those changes, Haugo says that speaking against book banning feels like a risk. Despite many of her fellow educators standing up for the right to read, 88 positions for classroom teachers remain vacant following the incident as of June 2022.

“We lost a lot of really great teachers,” Haugo says. “We lost five really great pieces of literature in our classrooms, but we found our voices and our students found their voices, and we are not really going to let those disappear again.”

Related: PEOPLE’s Picks for the Best LGBTQ+ Kids Books for Pride Month

Chbosky, whose novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower was first removed from shelves in 2003, says it's "no longer shocking" to see his book on banned lists. Watching Rapid City’s fight against removing the five books from their district's own banned list, however, has left him “very grateful” — particularly because those books that may benefit young readers.

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“You never know where the next kid is,” the author tells PEOPLE. “You never know where the next person who needs to hear the words, who needs to not feel alone, who needs that sense of hope, to just find his, her, their truth or focus or path. I think it's an act of heroism to ensure that those kids are able to find these books.”

To Be Destroyed will air on MSNBC on Aug. 11 at 9PM/ET.

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