Banned Books Week Day #7

The ALA Banned Books Week has a variety new challenges this year that caused my eyebrows to raise.

"Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" by John Berendt

"Banned for just four days from the Beulah, N.Dak. High School library (2008). Two school employees followed school policy to request removing the book after their son brought it home from an accelerated-reading program, in which students pick from a couple of hundred titles. The parents said the 1994 runaway nonfiction best seller was too pornographic and at odds with student behavior promoted in the school handbook. The board reversed its decision at the encouragement of the board president, who said the board moved too fast and unleashed a possible court case it would never win. He said there might be more palatable alternatives, like creating a list of restricted books that parents have to approve before their children can check them out. A decision to review school policies and investigate less-restrictive means to control library books was approved by the school board." Books Challenged & Banned 2008-2009, Robert P. Doyle

Interesting.