Censorship Roundup

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Staff -- School Library Journal, 04/01/2003

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Horry County, SC: Media specialists at three Horry County schools pulled Reader's Digest magazine from library shelves after school officials alerted them to a controversial article in the March issue about the teaching of sexuality on college campuses. The district circulated an e-mail about "Porn 101," written by CNN personality Tucker Carlson. The decision to pull the magazine was left to the librarians. Rebecca Ludlam, a media specialist at Conway High School, was among those who removed the magazine. "I don't think it's appropriate for anybody," she told the Myrtle Beach Sun- News. Socastee and Aynor high schools also pulled the issue.

Leeds, England: A West Yorkshire nursery school has banned the story of the three little pigs from classrooms for fear of offending Muslims. Barbara Harris, headmistress at Park Road Junior Infant and Nursery School, told teachers to remove all books featuring pigs from classrooms with children under age seven. Harris cited her concern for the "religious sensitivities" of 60 percent of the school's students who are Muslim, reported the London Daily Mail. Islamic leaders condemned the school's decision, saying Muslims are prohibited from eating pork—not from reading books about pigs. Nick Seaton of the Campaign for Real Education says, "This is political correctness gone mad." The banned books, including Babe (Crown, 1985) by Dick King-Smith, are available to students at the school library.

Murfreesboro, TN: A book review committee is considering whether to remove Alice on the Outside (S & S/Atheneum, 1999) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor from Rutherford County school libraries, after a parent cited the book as too sexually explicit. Sonja Sullivan complained about the book after her 12-year-old daughter checked it out from Blackman Middle School. Alice is geared for grades 8–12, Maura Mandyck, a librarian at Nashville Public Library, told the Tennessean. Blackman Middle School serves grades six through eight.