Censorship Roundup
By Staff -- School Library Journal, 5/1/2006
Billings, MT: Parents are demanding more oversight to the district’s book challenge policy following a recent complaint by parent Becky Malenowsky that four books in the Lockwood Middle School are too sexually explicit. For now, The Vanishing Hitchhiker (Norton, 2003) by Jan Harold Brunvand and Alligators in the Sewer and Urban Legends by Thomas J. Craughwell (both Black Dog & Leventhal, 1999) have been removed from the school, but The Guy Book (Knopf, 2002) by Mavis Jukes remains on the library’s shelves. Currently, School Superintendent Eileen Johnson is charged with reviewing books and deciding whether to keep them. The school board has proposed beefing up the review process by adding a school administrator, librarian, teacher, and parent appointed by Johnson. But parents scoffed at the idea, instead asking for two parents on the panel. The board plans to hold another meeting on May 9 to consider what steps to take next.
Geneva, IL: Despite objections from a group of parents about allusions to murder and sex, the Geneva Community Unit School District recently voted to keep the comic-book compilation Calvin and Hobbes (Andrews McMeel, 1987) by Bill Watterson on elementary school library shelves. However, only those “relatively mature students who exhibit the ability to understand the context of the material and will not be adversely impacted by reading the book” will be allowed to check it out, reports the Daily Herald in a letter to parents from the district. Calvin and Hobbes has been in some Geneva elementary school libraries since it was published in 1987. A parent or local citizen can appeal the decision to the board of education, and the board must rule within 60 days.
Miami, FL: The Miami-Dade County school board recently decided to keep a controversial book about life in Cuba, Vamos a Cuba (Heinemann/Raintree, 2000) by Alta Schreier, in elementary school libraries, reports the Miami Herald. The decision can be appealed to a 17-member committee appointed by Superintendent Rudy Crew, and that ruling can be appealed to the school board. Juan Amador, a parent at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Elementary, asked that the book be pulled because it fails to paint an accurate picture of life under Fidel Castro’s communist regime. Amador, a Cuban immigrant, specifically objects to the book’s images of smiling children wearing uniforms of Cuba’s communist youth group and a carnival celebrating the 1959 Cuban revolution.
Ontario, Canada: School boards across the province have had mixed reactions to a request that Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak (Groundwood, 2006) by Deborah Ellis be removed from the reading curriculum and school library shelves. The Canadian Jewish Council sparked the months-long controversy by stating that the book is inappropriate for elementary school students, demonizes both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and lacks historical context. The Ontario Library Association recommended the book for fourth through sixth graders as part of its Silver Birch reading program for young readers. Representatives from PEN Canada and the Writer’s Guild, along with publishers, authors, librarians, parents, and a young reader have asked school boards across the province to reverse their decision to remove the book. The Durham District school board in Oshawa, the Limestone District school board in Kingston, and the Avon Maitland District school board in Seaforth have all decided to keep the book, according to the Canadian Jewish News. But teachers in the Limestone schools will be required to read the book to “provide context and an introduction” to students. The Ottawa-Carleton District school board is also in the process of reviewing the book.
Palmdale, CA: Although trustees of the Wilsona School District recently removed two dozen books, including J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Scholastic, 2005), from a list of recommended school library books at Vista San Gabriel Elementary School, several have been granted a reprieve, including three bilingual versions of Clifford the Big Red, Dog (Scholastic, 2005) by Norman Bridwell and Christmas Storybook by Elizabeth Spurr (Disney, 2000). The trustees claim one book contains an unsavory hero who is a bad role model for children. Others object to another book featuring a warlock, which the group says is “inappropriate,’’ reports the Los Angeles Daily News.
