WV School Board Orders Books Off Shelves

Staff -- School Library Journal, 1/1/1998

Some advice for school librarians: Not only should your library have a policy on materials selection and challenges, but your board of education needs one, too. Some librarians and school administrators in rural West Virginia have found this out the hard way in recent months, after a parent stunned a meeting of the Jackson County Board of Education by reading aloud the first page of The Color Purple, with its graphic description of a young girl's rape. The mother demanded that The Color Purple and 17 other titles, including novels by Tom Clancy and John Grisham, be removed from the district's Accelerated Reader booklists. Lacking a formal policy on such matters, several horrified board members immediately demanded that all books on the list be removed from library shelves. The board later voted three to two to do just that until the books could be reviewed. They're also considering proposals for a district-wide policy on materials selection and challenges. One such proposal would have parents sit on school book selection committees.