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Censorship in the news
The Independent has reported that a Roman Catholic bishop had likened books which criticised the teachings of the Church to works that denied the Holocaust had taken place. The Rt Rev Patrick O’Donoghue, Bishop of Lancaster, told the Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee that books that were critical of the Catholic faith should be banned from school libraries. ______________________________________________________________________________________
Does film ``Compass'' steer kids in wrong direction?; Catholic group urges ban in fear kids will read the book, which is by an atheist author
The Houston Chronicle, December 7, 2007 Friday
A US group of Catholics is urging parents to steer clear of the new film ``The Golden Compass'' - not because of the movie's content, but because their children might like it and read the book. In early October the Catholic League sent out its pamphlet, complete with 95 footnotes, to hundreds of groups, including Protestant and Muslim organizations and Roman Catholic bishops. In response, some groups have issued warnings to parishioners or moved to ban the book from church schools. Kiera McCaffrey, spokeswoman for the Catholic League, says the anti-Christian themes are watered down in the film, but she and others worry the movie might entice youngsters into reading Pullmans' novels. "If parents see (the movie) they might think, `What a great Christmas gift idea? Why don't I get little Johnny or Sally the trilogy?' But if that happens, then little Johnny or Sally will wake up Christmas morning to a candy-coated message of atheism," she said.
This week the Montrose-area Annunciation Orthodox School library removed its copies of ``The Golden Compass,'' which has been on the school's recommended reading list for 10 years. Mark Kelly, head of Annunciation Orthodox School, sent an e-mail to parents this week saying he was getting rid of ``The Golden Compass'' in part because of Pullman's anti-Christian views. Kelly acknowledged the book had been recommended reading for eighth-graders and had won the Carnegie Medal for children's literature: "Because we are a Christian school, and because the foundation of our faith is in direct opposition to the beliefs of the author, I have decided to discontinue use of the book," Kelly wrote. "This is not an attempt at censorship, but rather it is a reflection of our mission statement where we pledge to provide, `a secure, Christian environment.' "
Sally Hilliard, head librarian at River Oaks Baptist School, said several parents have called concerned about ``The Golden Compass.'' A school committee considered the complaints but decided not to remove the book, although the school removed ``The Amber Spyglass'' a few years back, she said: "The God in that (book) turns out to be a weak, flawed character and kind of falls to the Earth and dies, and we just decided that, for a Christian school, that wasn't an appropriate book," she said. "(But as for) the first and second books, we just think they represent fun fantasy literature."
”King & King” outrages parents From Morning Call, Allentown, Pennsylvania, November 30, 2007
Storytime ceased abruptly when the picture book Eileen Issa was reading her 21/2-year-old son surprisingly ended with two men marrying and smooching: "I saw them at the altar and I said, "This can't be what I'm thinking,"' Eileen Issa said, recalling illustrations of the prince holding hands with and kissing his new husband. "I was sick." Since that day, Issa and her husband, Jeff, have demanded that the library take it out of circulation: "I just want kids to enjoy their innocence and their time of growing up," Jeff Issa said, explaining his persistence. "Let them be kids … and not worry about homosexuality, race, religion. Just let them live freely as kids."
The book will remain on the shelf despite the Issas' complaints and about 40 signatures they've gathered from residents who agree. The library's board of directors on Thursday denied the couple's request for the second time and the township supervisors, who appoint the library directors, have chosen not to overrule the decision.
Kathee Rhode, the library's director, said censoring books based on subject matter is the duty of parents, not the library. She said the library strives to provide material representing a spectrum of views and ways of life. "That's what a public library does, and you make the choice," Rhode said. "We certainly want parents to make that decision for their children -- not one parent making that decision for all children."
The book, originally written in Dutch by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland and copyrighted in 2000, spawned a federal lawsuit in Massachusetts last year after it was read to second-graders in a public school. Two couples claimed it violated their civil rights, but a federal judge dismissed the case, saying the couples have the right to send their children to private schools or home-school them.
Pullman books under review by 2 more Catholic boards
CBC News, November 23, 2007
Two other Toronto-area Catholic boards of education are studying copies of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy after the Halton District Catholic School Board removed the children's books from its library shelves. Both the Durham and Dufferin-Peel Catholic boards have said they will also review the popular children's fantasy series.
The Dufferin-Peel board has received no complaints over the book, but was alerted that there might be concerns about Pullman's series because of actions by the Halton board. The Halton board asked school principals to pull all three books in Pullman's His Dark Materials series from library shelves. The books have not been banned - but they are being reviewed after a single complaint.
The Golden Compass, voted best children's book in the last 70 years in a poll earlier this year, is still available to children in Halton's 39 grade schools and seven high schools, but only by request. The board declined to give details of the complaint, but a memo to principals said there were concerns the books were "anti-God, anti-Catholic and anti-religion." "What we're reviewing is the material of the actual book," Rick MacDonald, superintendent of the Halton board, told CBC News. "So whether the author's an atheist is immaterial." Educators reviewing the books will make a decision within a month, he said. The board could ban the book, restrict it to certain grades or put it back on library shelves.
Westhampton Beach residents take sides as school district mulls whether to take two novels off reading list
Newsday (New York), November 23, 2007
Terry Lucas, owner of The Open Book in Westhampton Beach, Long Island, has fortified her shop with handmade signs made by local students, are in response to an effort by several parents to remove two books from Westhampton Beach High School's ninth-grade reading list over what the parents say is inappropriate sexual content.
"The Tenth Circle," by Jodi Picoult, and "Cradle and All," by James Patterson, currently sit on the list of more than 300 books from which ninth-graders must choose to read for course credit. Several weeks ago, a group of parents, led by Georgia Joyce, of Remsenburg, filed a complaint with the district over the two books. Last Saturday night, Lucas held a three-hour "read-in" protest at her store. Nearly 100 people wrote letters, read aloud from books that had been banned by other districts in the past, and ate pizza.
The controversy comes on the heels of similar complaints from parents at Commack High School in June about a book on that school's summer-reading list, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky. Commack school officials planned to review the list. Author Picoult, whose novel focuses on date rape, said there have been attempts elsewhere to ban her book. "It's tragic to inhibit the expression of ideas and people's right to hear them," said Picoult, whose latest novel, "Nineteen Minutes," was stricken from a reading list at her son's high school in Hanover, N.H. "I think that's what this country was founded on. That's why banning a book continues to be a very powerful issue."
James Hulme, president of the Westhampton Beach School Board, said he expects the board will reach a decision sometime next month. But, Hulme said, if the board did decide to remove the books from the list, it wouldn't qualify as censorship.
Book restored to school library shelf
Times Colonist, 14th Nov 2007
A truce has been declared in the Battle of the Bazoongas. Last summer, Victoria (Canada) children's author Nikki Tate cried censorship when a Saskatchewan elementary school teacher-librarian banned her novel, Trouble on Tarragon Island. At issue was the book's reference to "bazoongas" as a slang word for breasts. The librarian also expressed concern over the issue of bullying in the story, and speculated that children might read the bullying scene and use it as a template to harass fellow students. Now Chris Oscar, the new principal of Elizabeth School in Kindersley, Sask., has reversed an earlier decision to ban the book.
Parents say book unfit for students; educators defend 'The Giver' as a gateway to class discussion
Nov. 6 2007, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, California
Appalled by descriptions of adolescent pill-popping, suicide and lethal injections given to babies and the elderly, two parents are demanding that the Mt. Diablo school board eliminate a controversial but award-winning book from school reading lists and libraries. "Infanticide and killing old people off are really touchy issues, even for adults," said Mary Ellen Woods, parent of a student at Sequoia Middle School in Pleasant Hill. "I think parents would take issue with their kids being sold on these ideas without their supervision."
Educators say teaching the novel in middle school offers a compelling way to talk about democracy and ethics with adolescents just finding their way in the world: "There's a lot of strength and power in discussing what is my role in society, questioning what makes a good society," said Johanna Rauhala, a seventh-grade teacher at Valley View Middle School in Pleasant Hill. Mt. Diablo added "The Giver" to its optional sixth-grade reading list in 2004.
The book is widely available in elementary school libraries and taught in middle school classrooms. But Woods and parent Alany Helmantoler say the book is too dark and advanced for preteens. The two complained at a board meeting last month and said they plan to file forms to remove the novel from the approved list.
One mother said the descriptions were too graphic for her daughter, now reading the book for class in sixth grade at Sequoia: "My issue is that particular part where they kill a baby," she said. "They are constantly talking about killing people…If they are going to teach about suicide and pills, they need to have some type of education to say why it's wrong to do it".
But the book's open-endedness is what makes it so compelling, particularly as a jumping off point for discussion, said Diana Conner, Valley View Middle School librarian: "It doesn't have a tidy little moral ending," she said. "It should be a teachable moment for these parents." The novel, which won a Newbery Medal for best children's literature, ranks 14th on the American Library Association's list of 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books from 1990 to 2000.
Nitro students to protest suspension of Conroy book
Students in a Nitro High School literature class plan to protest the suspension of the novel "The Prince of Tides". Justin Fletcher, a senior in Steve Shamblin's advanced placement literature class, expects about 40 students to participate in the silent student protest. Fletcher said the students plan to wear white T-shirts with black marker reading, "The board tries, but God decides, when to kill the Prince of Tides." The phrase is a play on words from the novel. Last month, Nitro parent Karen Frazier complained that "Beach Music," another book by Southern author Pat Conroy, was too violent for high school students. She spoke at a school board meeting Sept. 20. Both books have been suspended at Nitro, according to Judith Gillian, the language arts curriculum specialist for Kanawha County schools. Leona Tyree pulled her son from Shamblin's advanced placement literature class. "We complained about 'The Prince of Tides,' " she said. "I could not read the whole book. I found it very offensive." Tyree disliked a graphic rape scene at the book's outset, among other excerpts. Fletcher said he and his classmates want to protest "the censorship of any kind of book for educational purposes."…"We are not allowed to discuss the book in any way," Fletcher said. That committee of about nine or 10 people should receive "Beach Music" by today, Gillian said. She said the committee - a cross-section of professionals and those in the Nitro community - will read the book.
From the Charleston Gazette (West Virginia), October 5, 2007
Military parents want book banned
A military parent with children in York County schools is fighting to have a book banned from Magruder Elementary School's library. Cyndi Treiber said the book of short stories contains inappropriate and offensive material for children connected to the military. The book, "Tripping Over the Lunch Lady And Other Short Stories," was sent home as part of an optional reading program at Magruder last March. School officials said the book encouraged parents and their children to discuss shared elementary school experiences. The book, however, caused outrage and bewilderment among some York County parents because of its graphic references to war, bombs and soldier casualties. Treiber and other parents said the book as a whole is not bad, but the school district should have been sensitive to its students, of which approximately 42 percent are military dependents. Some currently have parents deployed in Iraq. "We could hardly believe this content was in a children's book. ... and had been passed out in a county with the largest military child percentage in Hampton Roads," Treiber wrote in a letter to Superintendent Steven Staples. School officials, including Magruder's Principal Mary Ahearn and district Chief Academic Officer Jennifer Parish, said the book is appropriate for students in kindergarten through fifth grade at Magruder. But the book's publisher, Dial Books, recommends the book for readers in fifth through seventh grade. Parents also said the book concerned them because elementary-age students -- particularly military dependents -- aren't mature enough to handle graphic war passages. When asked if she believed the book could be viewed as offensive to military families, Ahearn said, "It did not strike me that way as I read it." However, the CEO of the National Military Family Association, Joyce Raezer, said the school's decision was negligent. "I think military families -- now more than ever -- look to the schools as a safe place, as a protective place, as an extension of their family and community and support system," Raezer said. "That may be a high expectation to be placed on schools ... but nevertheless families need their schools to protect the military child." Raezer, who has worked with military families for years, said military children tend to personalize the news and stories about war. War-related images, like the ones described in the book, could wreak havoc on a child's mind or emotions.
From the Daily Press (Newport, Virginia). October 5, 2007
Washington County to begin formal review of book Fair and Tender Ladies
The school system in Washington County will now begin a formal review of the book "Fair and Tender Ladies," Superintendent Alan Lee said Tuesday. "The team of review will include parents, teachers, students and a minister," Lee said. "I'm trying to structure the review team so there's not bias either way." Questions about the appropriateness of the book's content were raised at a Sept. 17 School Board meeting with the approval of the high school reading list, and when board members also discussed a review. School Board member Dayton Owens made a motion to remove the book from the curriculum, and he also filled out the complaint form that has formally begun the review process."I find the language very crude and the sexual comments offensive," Owens begins his complaint. "I believe this book deals with too many adult themes and images that will leave a negative impact on the mind and life of the young teens who are overwhelmed with hormonal changes that are taking place in their own bodies," the complaint continues. "Material like this will only serve to increase the desire to act on their hormonal pressures." He cites a list of references to sexual relations that appear in the book. Buckey Boone, a School Board member who has been outspoken in opposition to Owens' stance, said "I think it's a book about a woman growing up and living in Southwest Virginia, who uses earthy language sometimes and has life experiences that are real," Boone said. "If that's dirty, then I guess it's, but ... the surprising part is what's found offensive rather than what's in the book." He also said the regulations that enable one person who is not a parent or student to submit a complaint form to challenge a book are "a slap in the face to teachers, and a poor way to develop curriculum."
From Bristol Herald Courier (Virginia), October 3, 2007
On a more light-hearted note: http://thehappyendingsfoundation.org/ makes use of censorship issues to market books. Although worryingly it does seem to have been taken at face value by many.
From The Tuscaloosa News Alabama, 12th September 2007 Fifteen-year-old Lysa Harding picked a book at random from Brookwood High’s library for a book report last week. Now, she doesn’t want to return it. Harding and her grandmother, Pam Pennington, say the book is too sexually explicit and shouldn’t be on school library bookshelves.
“This book is sick,” said Pennington. “I’m 50 years old, and I’ve raised 11 sets of kids and been through many a library, and I’ve never seen a book like this in a school library before.”
The novel, “Sandpiper” by Ellen Wittlinger tells the story of a 15-year-old girl named Sandpiper Hollow Ragsdale, who is on a “sexual power trip and engages in random hookups” for oral sex, according to a review by the School Library Journal. Ragsdale befriends one boy, but then is abused by another.
A review from the American Library Association’s Booklist, describes the main character as a promiscuous teen with an unstable home life who has oral sex with multiple partners. The review goes on to say that the book takes on difficult teen issues “with candor, humanity, humor and grace.” Harding, however, said she believes the book goes into too much graphic detail for a high school crowd. “I honestly believe that it should not be at school, because at my school they teach abstinence and no sex before marriage, but then all the book is teaching is how to do those things,” she said.
Book on male penguins tops list of 'challenged' library works
"And Tango Makes Three," an award-winning children's book based on a true story about two male penguins who raised a baby penguin, topped the Chicago-based American Library Association's annual list of works attracting the most complaints from parents, library patrons and others. Overall, the number of "challenged" books in 2006 jumped to 546, more than 30 percent higher than the previous year's total of 405, although still low compared to the mid-1990s, when challenges topped 750. "And Tango Makes Three," by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, was published in 2005 and named by the ALA as one of the year's best children's books. But parents and educators have complained that "Tango Makes Three" advocates homosexuality, with challenges reported in Shiloh, Ill., Southwick, Mass., and elsewhere.
Two controversial books survive panel's scrutiny.
From Spokesman Review (Spokane, WA), August 21, 2007
Parents, students and other community members packed the Coeur d'Alene school board meeting Monday to speak about possible restrictions on book titles in school libraries.
Most of the approximately 50 people supported parents Mary Jo Finney and Debbie Morris in their effort to restrict material they deem inappropriate for students. Some spoke of the need for uplifting reading material in the schools and the audacity of supplying books filled with sexuality and profanity to students when school policy prohibits vulgar language.
A committee of parents, teachers, school administrators, a board member, a librarian and a student is reviewing five titles Finney filed complaints about this spring. The school board heard at its meeting Monday evening a recommendation from the committee to place no restrictions on "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou and "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers. No decision was made and is not expected at the next meeting, Sept. 4. Three other titles - "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier, "Snow Falling on Cedars" by David Guterson and "Beloved" by Toni Morrison - will be considered later this school year.
The school board placed a parental permission requirement on "The Chocolate War" for middle school students in 2003. Last summer, the school board added such requirements to "Fallen Angels" in the middle schools and "Dancing at the Rascal Fair" by Ivan Doig at the high schools, despite the review committee's recommendation that no restrictions be placed.
In the last 10 years, Spokane Public Schools has received 17 challenges and withdrawn one publication from school libraries. Dirt Bike Magazine was taken off the shelves in 2002 after a complaint was filed.
Does film ``Compass'' steer kids in wrong direction?; Catholic group urges ban in fear kids will read the book, which is by an atheist author
The Houston Chronicle, December 7, 2007 Friday
A US group of Catholics is urging parents to steer clear of the new film ``The Golden Compass'' - not because of the movie's content, but because their children might like it and read the book. In early October the Catholic League sent out its pamphlet, complete with 95 footnotes, to hundreds of groups, including Protestant and Muslim organizations and Roman Catholic bishops. In response, some groups have issued warnings to parishioners or moved to ban the book from church schools. Kiera McCaffrey, spokeswoman for the Catholic League, says the anti-Christian themes are watered down in the film, but she and others worry the movie might entice youngsters into reading Pullmans' novels. "If parents see (the movie) they might think, `What a great Christmas gift idea? Why don't I get little Johnny or Sally the trilogy?' But if that happens, then little Johnny or Sally will wake up Christmas morning to a candy-coated message of atheism," she said.
This week the Montrose-area Annunciation Orthodox School library removed its copies of ``The Golden Compass,'' which has been on the school's recommended reading list for 10 years. Mark Kelly, head of Annunciation Orthodox School, sent an e-mail to parents this week saying he was getting rid of ``The Golden Compass'' in part because of Pullman's anti-Christian views. Kelly acknowledged the book had been recommended reading for eighth-graders and had won the Carnegie Medal for children's literature: "Because we are a Christian school, and because the foundation of our faith is in direct opposition to the beliefs of the author, I have decided to discontinue use of the book," Kelly wrote. "This is not an attempt at censorship, but rather it is a reflection of our mission statement where we pledge to provide, `a secure, Christian environment.' "
Sally Hilliard, head librarian at River Oaks Baptist School, said several parents have called concerned about ``The Golden Compass.'' A school committee considered the complaints but decided not to remove the book, although the school removed ``The Amber Spyglass'' a few years back, she said: "The God in that (book) turns out to be a weak, flawed character and kind of falls to the Earth and dies, and we just decided that, for a Christian school, that wasn't an appropriate book," she said. "(But as for) the first and second books, we just think they represent fun fantasy literature."
”King & King” outrages parents From Morning Call, Allentown, Pennsylvania, November 30, 2007
Storytime ceased abruptly when the picture book Eileen Issa was reading her 21/2-year-old son surprisingly ended with two men marrying and smooching: "I saw them at the altar and I said, "This can't be what I'm thinking,"' Eileen Issa said, recalling illustrations of the prince holding hands with and kissing his new husband. "I was sick." Since that day, Issa and her husband, Jeff, have demanded that the library take it out of circulation: "I just want kids to enjoy their innocence and their time of growing up," Jeff Issa said, explaining his persistence. "Let them be kids … and not worry about homosexuality, race, religion. Just let them live freely as kids."
The book will remain on the shelf despite the Issas' complaints and about 40 signatures they've gathered from residents who agree. The library's board of directors on Thursday denied the couple's request for the second time and the township supervisors, who appoint the library directors, have chosen not to overrule the decision.
Kathee Rhode, the library's director, said censoring books based on subject matter is the duty of parents, not the library. She said the library strives to provide material representing a spectrum of views and ways of life. "That's what a public library does, and you make the choice," Rhode said. "We certainly want parents to make that decision for their children -- not one parent making that decision for all children."
The book, originally written in Dutch by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland and copyrighted in 2000, spawned a federal lawsuit in Massachusetts last year after it was read to second-graders in a public school. Two couples claimed it violated their civil rights, but a federal judge dismissed the case, saying the couples have the right to send their children to private schools or home-school them.
Pullman books under review by 2 more Catholic boards
CBC News, November 23, 2007
Two other Toronto-area Catholic boards of education are studying copies of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy after the Halton District Catholic School Board removed the children's books from its library shelves. Both the Durham and Dufferin-Peel Catholic boards have said they will also review the popular children's fantasy series.
The Dufferin-Peel board has received no complaints over the book, but was alerted that there might be concerns about Pullman's series because of actions by the Halton board. The Halton board asked school principals to pull all three books in Pullman's His Dark Materials series from library shelves. The books have not been banned - but they are being reviewed after a single complaint.
The Golden Compass, voted best children's book in the last 70 years in a poll earlier this year, is still available to children in Halton's 39 grade schools and seven high schools, but only by request. The board declined to give details of the complaint, but a memo to principals said there were concerns the books were "anti-God, anti-Catholic and anti-religion." "What we're reviewing is the material of the actual book," Rick MacDonald, superintendent of the Halton board, told CBC News. "So whether the author's an atheist is immaterial." Educators reviewing the books will make a decision within a month, he said. The board could ban the book, restrict it to certain grades or put it back on library shelves.
Westhampton Beach residents take sides as school district mulls whether to take two novels off reading list
Newsday (New York), November 23, 2007
Terry Lucas, owner of The Open Book in Westhampton Beach, Long Island, has fortified her shop with handmade signs made by local students, are in response to an effort by several parents to remove two books from Westhampton Beach High School's ninth-grade reading list over what the parents say is inappropriate sexual content.
"The Tenth Circle," by Jodi Picoult, and "Cradle and All," by James Patterson, currently sit on the list of more than 300 books from which ninth-graders must choose to read for course credit. Several weeks ago, a group of parents, led by Georgia Joyce, of Remsenburg, filed a complaint with the district over the two books. Last Saturday night, Lucas held a three-hour "read-in" protest at her store. Nearly 100 people wrote letters, read aloud from books that had been banned by other districts in the past, and ate pizza.
The controversy comes on the heels of similar complaints from parents at Commack High School in June about a book on that school's summer-reading list, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky. Commack school officials planned to review the list. Author Picoult, whose novel focuses on date rape, said there have been attempts elsewhere to ban her book. "It's tragic to inhibit the expression of ideas and people's right to hear them," said Picoult, whose latest novel, "Nineteen Minutes," was stricken from a reading list at her son's high school in Hanover, N.H. "I think that's what this country was founded on. That's why banning a book continues to be a very powerful issue."
James Hulme, president of the Westhampton Beach School Board, said he expects the board will reach a decision sometime next month. But, Hulme said, if the board did decide to remove the books from the list, it wouldn't qualify as censorship.
Book restored to school library shelf
Times Colonist, 14th Nov 2007
A truce has been declared in the Battle of the Bazoongas. Last summer, Victoria (Canada) children's author Nikki Tate cried censorship when a Saskatchewan elementary school teacher-librarian banned her novel, Trouble on Tarragon Island. At issue was the book's reference to "bazoongas" as a slang word for breasts. The librarian also expressed concern over the issue of bullying in the story, and speculated that children might read the bullying scene and use it as a template to harass fellow students. Now Chris Oscar, the new principal of Elizabeth School in Kindersley, Sask., has reversed an earlier decision to ban the book.
Parents say book unfit for students; educators defend 'The Giver' as a gateway to class discussion
Nov. 6 2007, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, California
Appalled by descriptions of adolescent pill-popping, suicide and lethal injections given to babies and the elderly, two parents are demanding that the Mt. Diablo school board eliminate a controversial but award-winning book from school reading lists and libraries. "Infanticide and killing old people off are really touchy issues, even for adults," said Mary Ellen Woods, parent of a student at Sequoia Middle School in Pleasant Hill. "I think parents would take issue with their kids being sold on these ideas without their supervision."
Educators say teaching the novel in middle school offers a compelling way to talk about democracy and ethics with adolescents just finding their way in the world: "There's a lot of strength and power in discussing what is my role in society, questioning what makes a good society," said Johanna Rauhala, a seventh-grade teacher at Valley View Middle School in Pleasant Hill. Mt. Diablo added "The Giver" to its optional sixth-grade reading list in 2004.
The book is widely available in elementary school libraries and taught in middle school classrooms. But Woods and parent Alany Helmantoler say the book is too dark and advanced for preteens. The two complained at a board meeting last month and said they plan to file forms to remove the novel from the approved list.
One mother said the descriptions were too graphic for her daughter, now reading the book for class in sixth grade at Sequoia: "My issue is that particular part where they kill a baby," she said. "They are constantly talking about killing people…If they are going to teach about suicide and pills, they need to have some type of education to say why it's wrong to do it".
But the book's open-endedness is what makes it so compelling, particularly as a jumping off point for discussion, said Diana Conner, Valley View Middle School librarian: "It doesn't have a tidy little moral ending," she said. "It should be a teachable moment for these parents." The novel, which won a Newbery Medal for best children's literature, ranks 14th on the American Library Association's list of 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books from 1990 to 2000.
Nitro students to protest suspension of Conroy book
Students in a Nitro High School literature class plan to protest the suspension of the novel "The Prince of Tides". Justin Fletcher, a senior in Steve Shamblin's advanced placement literature class, expects about 40 students to participate in the silent student protest. Fletcher said the students plan to wear white T-shirts with black marker reading, "The board tries, but God decides, when to kill the Prince of Tides." The phrase is a play on words from the novel. Last month, Nitro parent Karen Frazier complained that "Beach Music," another book by Southern author Pat Conroy, was too violent for high school students. She spoke at a school board meeting Sept. 20. Both books have been suspended at Nitro, according to Judith Gillian, the language arts curriculum specialist for Kanawha County schools. Leona Tyree pulled her son from Shamblin's advanced placement literature class. "We complained about 'The Prince of Tides,' " she said. "I could not read the whole book. I found it very offensive." Tyree disliked a graphic rape scene at the book's outset, among other excerpts. Fletcher said he and his classmates want to protest "the censorship of any kind of book for educational purposes."…"We are not allowed to discuss the book in any way," Fletcher said. That committee of about nine or 10 people should receive "Beach Music" by today, Gillian said. She said the committee - a cross-section of professionals and those in the Nitro community - will read the book.
From the Charleston Gazette (West Virginia), October 5, 2007
Military parents want book banned
A military parent with children in York County schools is fighting to have a book banned from Magruder Elementary School's library. Cyndi Treiber said the book of short stories contains inappropriate and offensive material for children connected to the military. The book, "Tripping Over the Lunch Lady And Other Short Stories," was sent home as part of an optional reading program at Magruder last March. School officials said the book encouraged parents and their children to discuss shared elementary school experiences. The book, however, caused outrage and bewilderment among some York County parents because of its graphic references to war, bombs and soldier casualties. Treiber and other parents said the book as a whole is not bad, but the school district should have been sensitive to its students, of which approximately 42 percent are military dependents. Some currently have parents deployed in Iraq. "We could hardly believe this content was in a children's book. ... and had been passed out in a county with the largest military child percentage in Hampton Roads," Treiber wrote in a letter to Superintendent Steven Staples. School officials, including Magruder's Principal Mary Ahearn and district Chief Academic Officer Jennifer Parish, said the book is appropriate for students in kindergarten through fifth grade at Magruder. But the book's publisher, Dial Books, recommends the book for readers in fifth through seventh grade. Parents also said the book concerned them because elementary-age students -- particularly military dependents -- aren't mature enough to handle graphic war passages. When asked if she believed the book could be viewed as offensive to military families, Ahearn said, "It did not strike me that way as I read it." However, the CEO of the National Military Family Association, Joyce Raezer, said the school's decision was negligent. "I think military families -- now more than ever -- look to the schools as a safe place, as a protective place, as an extension of their family and community and support system," Raezer said. "That may be a high expectation to be placed on schools ... but nevertheless families need their schools to protect the military child." Raezer, who has worked with military families for years, said military children tend to personalize the news and stories about war. War-related images, like the ones described in the book, could wreak havoc on a child's mind or emotions.
From the Daily Press (Newport, Virginia). October 5, 2007
Washington County to begin formal review of book Fair and Tender Ladies
The school system in Washington County will now begin a formal review of the book "Fair and Tender Ladies," Superintendent Alan Lee said Tuesday. "The team of review will include parents, teachers, students and a minister," Lee said. "I'm trying to structure the review team so there's not bias either way." Questions about the appropriateness of the book's content were raised at a Sept. 17 School Board meeting with the approval of the high school reading list, and when board members also discussed a review. School Board member Dayton Owens made a motion to remove the book from the curriculum, and he also filled out the complaint form that has formally begun the review process."I find the language very crude and the sexual comments offensive," Owens begins his complaint. "I believe this book deals with too many adult themes and images that will leave a negative impact on the mind and life of the young teens who are overwhelmed with hormonal changes that are taking place in their own bodies," the complaint continues. "Material like this will only serve to increase the desire to act on their hormonal pressures." He cites a list of references to sexual relations that appear in the book. Buckey Boone, a School Board member who has been outspoken in opposition to Owens' stance, said "I think it's a book about a woman growing up and living in Southwest Virginia, who uses earthy language sometimes and has life experiences that are real," Boone said. "If that's dirty, then I guess it's, but ... the surprising part is what's found offensive rather than what's in the book." He also said the regulations that enable one person who is not a parent or student to submit a complaint form to challenge a book are "a slap in the face to teachers, and a poor way to develop curriculum."
From Bristol Herald Courier (Virginia), October 3, 2007
On a more light-hearted note: http://thehappyendingsfoundation.org/ makes use of censorship issues to market books. Although worryingly it does seem to have been taken at face value by many.
From The Tuscaloosa News Alabama, 12th September 2007 Fifteen-year-old Lysa Harding picked a book at random from Brookwood High’s library for a book report last week. Now, she doesn’t want to return it. Harding and her grandmother, Pam Pennington, say the book is too sexually explicit and shouldn’t be on school library bookshelves.
“This book is sick,” said Pennington. “I’m 50 years old, and I’ve raised 11 sets of kids and been through many a library, and I’ve never seen a book like this in a school library before.”
The novel, “Sandpiper” by Ellen Wittlinger tells the story of a 15-year-old girl named Sandpiper Hollow Ragsdale, who is on a “sexual power trip and engages in random hookups” for oral sex, according to a review by the School Library Journal. Ragsdale befriends one boy, but then is abused by another.
A review from the American Library Association’s Booklist, describes the main character as a promiscuous teen with an unstable home life who has oral sex with multiple partners. The review goes on to say that the book takes on difficult teen issues “with candor, humanity, humor and grace.” Harding, however, said she believes the book goes into too much graphic detail for a high school crowd. “I honestly believe that it should not be at school, because at my school they teach abstinence and no sex before marriage, but then all the book is teaching is how to do those things,” she said.
Book on male penguins tops list of 'challenged' library works
"And Tango Makes Three," an award-winning children's book based on a true story about two male penguins who raised a baby penguin, topped the Chicago-based American Library Association's annual list of works attracting the most complaints from parents, library patrons and others. Overall, the number of "challenged" books in 2006 jumped to 546, more than 30 percent higher than the previous year's total of 405, although still low compared to the mid-1990s, when challenges topped 750. "And Tango Makes Three," by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, was published in 2005 and named by the ALA as one of the year's best children's books. But parents and educators have complained that "Tango Makes Three" advocates homosexuality, with challenges reported in Shiloh, Ill., Southwick, Mass., and elsewhere.
Two controversial books survive panel's scrutiny.
From Spokesman Review (Spokane, WA), August 21, 2007
Parents, students and other community members packed the Coeur d'Alene school board meeting Monday to speak about possible restrictions on book titles in school libraries.
Most of the approximately 50 people supported parents Mary Jo Finney and Debbie Morris in their effort to restrict material they deem inappropriate for students. Some spoke of the need for uplifting reading material in the schools and the audacity of supplying books filled with sexuality and profanity to students when school policy prohibits vulgar language.
A committee of parents, teachers, school administrators, a board member, a librarian and a student is reviewing five titles Finney filed complaints about this spring. The school board heard at its meeting Monday evening a recommendation from the committee to place no restrictions on "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou and "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers. No decision was made and is not expected at the next meeting, Sept. 4. Three other titles - "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier, "Snow Falling on Cedars" by David Guterson and "Beloved" by Toni Morrison - will be considered later this school year.
The school board placed a parental permission requirement on "The Chocolate War" for middle school students in 2003. Last summer, the school board added such requirements to "Fallen Angels" in the middle schools and "Dancing at the Rascal Fair" by Ivan Doig at the high schools, despite the review committee's recommendation that no restrictions be placed.
In the last 10 years, Spokane Public Schools has received 17 challenges and withdrawn one publication from school libraries. Dirt Bike Magazine was taken off the shelves in 2002 after a complaint was filed.
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| Anonymous | hi what the hell | 0 | May 10 2009, 3:31 PM EDT by Anonymous | ||
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Thread started: May 10 2009, 3:31 PM EDT
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FUCK YOU ALL!!!!!!!! NO GIVER SHIT!!!!!!! FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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