A parent’s complaint about an AIDS memoir in the library at Cheatham Middle School [in Ashland City, TN] led to the book being pulled from general circulation.
The Cheatham County School Board voted to change its policy on library books to allow the director of schools to remove a book on an emergency basis after a complaint is received. A committee would then review the material to decide whether the book should be allowed in the library.
Parent Misty Binkley filed the complaint when her daughter brought home a book by author Paul Monette. The memoir chronicles how Monette coped with a lover’s death from AIDS. The book talks frankly about past promiscuity and uses the “f” word.
“I just think that a 12-year-old seventh-grader doesn’t need to be reading that material it may be appropriate for older kids,” said Binkley.
Here’s a news report about the story. (Hat Tip: ALA/OIF)
ALA OIF also tweets about two books being challenged at a high school in Bedford, NH. Here’s the story from the Nashua Telegraph.
A second book has been pulled from the Bedford High School curriculum following complaints about its sexual content by the same parents who started the argument about “Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By In America,” which was removed from the high school’s personal finance course last month.
Sara Gruen’s best-selling book “Water for Elephants” was scheduled to be used in one of the high school’s intersession programs – three-day experiences in April geared to give students a valuable opportunity beyond the classroom – but Bedford High School Principal Bill Hagen said the decision was made last week to remove that course as an option.
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