Censorship Roundup

Fort Bend County, TX: The director of the Fort Bend County library system has moved two controversial sex education books from the young adult section to the adult section of the library. Director Carol Brown's October decision came before a book review committee had completed its deliberations on the Robie Harris books It's Perfectly Normal (1994) and It's So Amazing (1999, both Candlewick), reports the Fort Bend Southwest Sun. A resident had filed a complaint about the books' frank discussion of sex and graphic illustrations.

Hernando County, FL: The Hernando County school board will allow the public to attend a book-review committee meeting to consider whether Judy Blume's Deenie (Bradbury, 1974) is suitable for elementary school libraries. The move comes after Florida Circuit Judge Jack Springstead issued an October 21 injunction barring the committee from meeting in private. Jerri Trammel, mother of a fourth grader at Spring Hill Elementary School, sparked a review when she maintained that masturbation scenes in the book were inappropriate for young children.

Modesto, CA: The Modesto City school district has removed the award-winning Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in LA (Curbstone, 1993) from three Beyer High School classrooms after a homeschooling parent complained about the book's graphic sex and violence. Pamela LaChapell, who homeschools her child, told the Modesto Bee that three parents called to alert her about the Luis Rodriguez account of gang life, which won a Carl Sandburg Literary Award.