Disturbing book will stay in school library

[The Straight Story]

Disturbing book will stay in school library

March 2, 2008

WALTHAM - A novel by Alice Sebold kept in the John W. McDevitt Middle School library will remain there, despite a request from a parent to remove it.

School Committee member Margaret Donnelly identified the book as "The Lovely Bones," and said a parent of a McDevitt student had complained that the content of the book was too frightening for middle school students.

The School Committee's ad hoc committee voted, 5 to 1, to keep the book in the library. But it will be kept in the faculty rather than the student section, and students wishing to read it must ask permission from the librarian, who will determine if the child is mature enough, said Donnelly.

The book tells the story of a raped and murdered girl as she watches her loved ones' and her murderer's lives from heaven.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/03/02/disturbing_book_will_stay_in_school_library/

[annabanana]

1. I don't care for censorship

but I am not as disturbed by this as I was about the children's book with the "two dad" penguins.. Hell..I won't read "lovely bones" because I know it will give me nightmares...

[sepulveda]

10. me neither

but there is a difference between government censoring what ADULTS can see (that's bad) and what kids within the school system can see

do we think public high and grammar schools should allow kids access to playboy, hustler, stormfront manuals, etc.

of course not.

school act in loco parentis for the minor children of others. as such, they have a duty .

totally disanalogous from adults.

adults should have a free choice as to what they read and say. and in our country (unlike most european countries) we have FAR FAR more free speech rights to access even the most abhorrent hate speech and controversial literature

but children are a different matter.

is it censorship for a high school to prohibit kids from reading hustler?

whether or not it is (hint: it is), it's not unjustified based on their in loco parentis role

kids =/= adults

they have a truncated set of rights (for example, kids below a certain age don't have the "right" to have sex, and they don't have the "right" to disseminate nude photos of themself) and it's always been that way

[uppityperson]

2. I just read that book. It is a very odd, graphic book. Don't believe in censoring

I was told it was an interesting view on afterlife and found it to be too graphic for my comfort even. An acquaintance gave it to me to pass on to another friend who has daughters. After reading it I gave it to someone else as it was too graphic for my friend with daughter the same age as the raped/murdered one in the book.

That said, I don't believe in censoring books, having read Hiroshima as a middle-schooler and being affected by it for life. I can see having a warning on this book since the rape/murder was a bit overwhelming, but not being held back.

[peace13]

3. I've read this book.

It has been out for years. If the student weren't mature enough to read it she/he wouldn't. It is not sensational but doggedly trudges through the impact that the kidnapping/ murder of a young person has on the family members. Sorry folks but we have young people facing this in reality. We have kids that get gunned down at the mall, at school, on the street. It would be a good book for parent and child to read simultaneously. Lots to talk about. Peace, Kim

[Journeyman]

4. I've no problems with a dual library, a kids section and an adult. . .

every public library I've ever been in has been set up this way. Where I part with this decision is in leaving the decision on the reader's maturity to the librarian. It'd be better, I believe, to give that decision to the parents. A simple permission slip, signed at the beginning of the school year, would suffice. Or if parents preferred, a case-by-case assessment. But leaving such a decision to the librarian, or even the child's teacher, seems too prone to possible censorship based on the adult's perceptions and not the child's maturity.

[murielm99]

5. Librarians do not censor.

If a young person wants to check out a book, they check it out. Most libraries' selection policies have statements about this. No ethical librarian would tell a young person that they cannot have a book, unless the parent specified.

Maybe some of you remember librarians from fifty years ago censoring children's selections, or keeping certain books behind the desk in locked cabinets. That is not done any more.

If the parent wants to censor the child's reading habits, it is up to the parent to accompany the child to the library and oversee their selections personally.

Yes, that is a disturbing book, but a good one.

There are books written specifically for young adults that are disturbing, too. Look at a book called "Weasel." I wanted my older daughter to read it, but I read it first, and we discussed it. I made sure he little sister, who was nine at the time the book came out, did not read the book until she was older.

[Journeyman]

6. A simple Google search for "librarian censorship" disproves your thesis. . .

I was especially taken by the descriptor for one of the sites:

When a librarian turns down a book as worthless, it is 'professional judgment.' When a parent urges that a particular book be removed, it is 'censorship.'

Here's a few other selections to broaden your horizon:

WHAT JOHNNY CAN'T READ: Censorship in American Libraries"

http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/winter96/pubCONN.html

Moving toward a Method to Test for Self-Censorship by School Library Media Specialists

http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/slmrb/slmrcontents/volume52002/coley.cfm

(This last site is from the American Association for School Librarians -- a good source for extensive research and writings on the problems of censorship in American communities.)

I hope this might enlighten you to the notion that school librarians are subject to the frailties of human emotions and irrational thought same as others. And as the OP dealt with a "school library," perhaps you can expound on how two working adults are going to find time to accompany their child to the school library during the business day, hence my proposal for written permission on a blanket, or case-by-case basis.

[murielm99]

7. I am speaking from my own experience as a school

and public librarian. I know what the policies are, and I know what libraries and librarians do to counter the ever-present threat of censorship.

Most selection and censorship policies came about because of the threats to libraries during the McCarthy Era. The censorship threats then were not about sex as much as they were about anything that might be considered "communistic."

Of course many parents can't always accompany their children to the library or media center. And of course librarians exercise judgment about what to select for the library. Written permission is always a good idea. Many libraries these days have parents fill out permission slips before their children are allowed to use the computers. And librarians have fought very hard to keep website censorship out of libraries, too.

Don't you dare lecture me about my own field.

[Journeyman]

8. And yet, the two sites I linked to detail library censorship in the past decade. . .

and the examples given there -- of censorship by librarians -- run the gamut from politics to sexual attitudes. But don't let reality get in your way.

As an aside, I never fail to find amusement when someone with a "field" or "profession" believes they and they alone are capable of discussing it. Especially when they have NO IDEA what the background of their counterpart might be. Why, it's almost like you want to censor me from the discussion . . .

[LizW]

9. It is a beautifully written book.

I think it is the kind of thing I would want my kids to read with some guidance -- maybe a chance to talk about some of the things in it. The rape and murder were not described graphically, but it was devastating, nonetheless.

The thing I would be more concerned about my children being able to handle was the unflinching look at how people deal with the death of a loved one. The book made you look, through the girl's eyes, at her father, little brother, sister and mother each trying to live through the agony of her murder. As I recall, the book covers ten years. The girl sees her brother grow from a four-year-old to a teenager, and every second of his life is affected by her death.

I cried my eyes out reading the book, and it stayed with me for months afterward. I don't advocate censorship, but it is an intensely emotional book, and I would at least like to know that my kids were reading it so I could offer them the opportunity to talk about it.

[The Straight Story]

11. Thanks for your input on the book

I have not read it myself, seems like an interesting read though.

On the one hand, I would not want my daughter watching tv shows/movies without me seeing some of them first - so I can see where parents are a little apprehensive about some books - on the other hand, I don't favor censorship.

Parents walk a tight rope these days.