Censorship Roundup
Kathy Ishizuka -- School Library Journal, 3/1/2002
La Mirada, CA: School officials at La Mirada High School reinstated Sophie's Choice to the library on January 10, following a threatened lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The award-winning William Styron novel about a Holocaust survivor had been missing from shelves since September 2001, when a parent complained about the book's sexual content (News, February 2002 ). The ACLU had planned to sue the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District if the book was not replaced. The American Library Association, the National Coalition Against Censorship, and a private law firm also contacted the school to express their censorship concerns, reported the LA Times.
Elgin, IL: Judy Blume's controversial coming-of-age novel Forever (Bradbury, 1975) will return to Elgin Area School District U-46's middle school libraries after a nearly five-year absence. In a 5–2 vote on January 22, the school board upheld a review committee's decision to allow the book back into middle schools. Ever since the book was banned in 1997, Eastview Middle School's library media specialist, Joan Devine, has led the fight to reinstate Forever , launching appeals in 1999 and again last fall. "This is wonderful," Devine told the Chicago Tribune . "This is a victory for the students and a vindication for us." Opponents plan to challenge the book again, following a mandatory two-year waiting period.
Haysville, KS: James Stevenson's The Bones in the Cliff (Greenwillow, 1995) will remain on the shelves of the Haysville Middle School library, despite a complaint by middle-school parent Megan Waegener that some sections are inappropriate. A review committee decided to keep the novel about an 11-year-old boy with an abusive, alcoholic father, but to make it off limits to Waegener's child. In one scene, Pete, the boy, sees some prostitutes on the street. "I stared at her bare rear end without meaning to," reads the passage from the book. Parents may appeal the committee's decision to the school board, says Sandy Bradshaw, Haysville school district spokesperson.
