Censorship Roundup
Staff -- School Library Journal, 6/1/2002
Nova Scotia, Canada : The Tri-County school board has repealed its decision to ban three books from district classrooms—including the literary classic To Kill a Mockingbird —because they use the word "nigger." The board reversed its decision to remove the Harper Lee classic, as well as In the Heat of the Night by John Dudley Ball and Underground to Canada by Barbara Smucker at a May 7 meeting, in which Nova Scotia Education Minister Jane Purves chastised the board's decision. "We're not in the book-banning business," Purves told the Edmonton Journal. A group of black Nova Scotians said the books' use of the term was demeaning to black students and encouraged racism.
Springfield, MO : Harry Potter books are once again available at all 54 school libraries of the Springfield district, following a review committee's unanimous decision on April 18 to return the popular series to the shelves. The committee determined that the books don't violate any guidelines for school libraries, Associate Superintendent Emmett Sawyer told the Associated Press. The series was pulled in March, when a district grandmother filed a complaint about concerns over witchcraft.
Hillsborough, FL : Review committees returned two books on serial killers to the shelves of four local high schools in April, despite a parent's claim that the titles glorify violence (see May News). Tony Pawlisz's objections to The A to Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers (Pocket Books, 1997) by Harold Schecter and David Everitt led officials to remove the book and The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers (Facts On File, 2000) by Michael Newton from its high schools in early April. Pawlisz says he will appeal the decision.
Jackson, WY : The Julius Lester book When Dad Killed Mom (Harcourt, 2001) was removed from the Jackson Hole Middle School library in May after the school board deemed it inappropriate. The board's action followed a review committee's recommendation to pull the title, which concerns two adolescents who must cope with their mother's murder by their father. A parent had questioned the book earlier this year, say school officials.
