Censorship Roundup

By Staff -- School Library Journal, 11/1/2004

Fargo, ND: The parents of a fourth-grade student at Centennial Elementary School have asked that the young adult novel Mick Harte Was Here (Knopf, 1995) by Barbara Park be removed from the school library due to its inappropriate themes and language. The district is reviewing the challenge and a decision is expected this month. If the parents appeal, the matter will be taken up by the school board for reconsideration. This is the first time the book—about a 12-year-old boy who was killed in a biking accident—has been challenged at Centennial.

Mesa, AZ: An explicit book about sex for teenage girls was recently removed from bookshelves at Gilbert, Desert Ridge, and Mesquite high schools, after the mother of a 16-year-old girl complained to a local TV station about Deal With It! A Whole New Approach to Dealing with Your Body, Brain, and Life as a Gurl (Pocket, 1999) by Esther Drill, Heather McDonald, and Rebecca Odes. Deb Myers says she was shocked when she flipped through the book her daughter checked out at the Desert Ridge High School library. Gilbert high school librarian, Tally Satterthwaite, who ordered the book in March, glanced through the book after the complaint was made and agreed that it was inappropriate for the school community.

Mesquite, TX: School officials at Pirrung Elementary School are reviewing Alice the Brave (Atheneum, 1995) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, after the mother of a fifth-grade student asked that it be removed from the district's school libraries due to its sexual references. A review committee will recommend whether the book be moved to middle school shelves or pulled completely from the district's schools. "Most likely, the committee will make a recommendation about removing it from the elementary level," says district spokeswoman Katherine Oates Cernosek.