Menasha, WI, School Library Can Keep Hip-Hop Book

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SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 6/2/2008 2:05:00 PM

The Menasha Board of Ed in Wisconsin recently decided that a profanity-laced book documenting hip-hop culture will remain in a limited-access area of the Maplewood Middle School library.

The board decision was in response to a request by parent Guy Hegg, who for the second time in 30 days filed objections to school materials in the media center, reports the Wrightstown Post Gazette.

Board members also voted unanimously to adopt procedures that would record parental consent before limited-access books are released to students. The procedures will require parents to sign a consent form and call the librarian to confirm their authorization.

As approved, the procedures will apply only to the 10 books in limited access, one of which is Bling, Bling: Hip Hop's Crown Jewels (Wenner, 2005) by Minya Oh, a nonfiction account of hip-hop culture that Hegg wanted removed from the library.

"One page was enough for me," Hegg told the board in his complaint. "That was all I could stomach."

Hegg previously objected to the book Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (HarperTeen, 2000), a coming-of-age novel by Louise Rennison, which had sexual content Hegg also found offensive.

In spite of its profanity, Maplewood's library media specialist Nancy Theiler said she wanted to keep the book in the limited-access area of her library, noting that racial and cultural diversity only can be honored by having divergent perspectives and teaching students how to make choices.

"Intellectual freedom and the right to choose what to read are important rights to uphold," she told the Wrightstown Post Gazette.