1 book cut from school shelf
Out of 10 novels challenged by a School Board member as inappropriate for high school, nine are approved by a board subcommittee.
By TOM MARSHALL
Published September 2, 2006
BROOKSVILLE - Except for the well-thumbed copies of Florida's obscenity laws, a visitor to the Hernando County School Board might have thought they stumbled across a late-summer book club meeting.
Armed with notes and stacks of books, a five-member "challenged books" subcommittee convened Friday to decide whether 10 novels from a Nature Coast Technical High School library order should be purchased.
For two hours the subcommittee scrutinized passages and debated context, before deciding nine were worthy.
The 10th, Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas, struck four members as too graphic in its depiction of sexual activity between a high school student and teacher.
The committee was formed in May after School Board member Sandra Nicholson took exception to the book titles, which she said were described on Internet sites devoted to inappropriate books in school libraries.
Nicholson said at the time that she hadn't read all of the books, let alone the hundreds of others in a $37,000 book order, but questioned whether any books with foul language should be kept in schools.
But after a long summer's reading, most members of the committee felt only Thomas' book was inappropriate for high school readers. Curriculum specialist Elaine Wooten, who served as a staff liaison to the committee, noted that even the author has written that the book "might be a stretch" for high schoolers.
Nancy Urling, a Springstead High School English teacher, said the subject matter was just too close to painful real-life realities of sexual abuse.
"Here we are seeing this on TV, and now in a book," she said.
One member of the committee, Kathy Kershner of the Brooksville Public Library, said she felt uncomfortable casting a vote against purchasing books.
"My library has to be for everyone in the community," she said. "I get challenges too, but it's a different climate."
Richard Peck's Are You in the House Alone? was unanimously recommended for purchase, despite its depiction of a rape. Group members said the book dealt with an important topic in a sensitive way.
"I think it's an issue which is very relevant," said Kershner. "I have no problem with the book whatsoever."
Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees also passed muster after a short discussion about the use of profanity in the book.
"Do we know exactly which words the School Board member had a problem with?" asked Betty Harper, principal at Hernando High School.
"Yes, we do," said Wooten, leafing through a list consisting mostly of "damn" and "dammits," along with a few takings of the Lord's name in vain.
"I think it was a better piece of literature than some of the others," she added.
Boy's Life, Robert McCammon's thriller about a 12-year-old growing up in Alabama in the 1960s, came in for some of the most passionate discussion.
Two committee members - Harper and Francine Ward of Mid-Florida Community Services - said they were on the fence and couldn't vote to recommend its purchase, even though Ward described it as a good read and said its use of profanity "was not the predominant language" throughout the 600-page book.
But Mary Dysart, the Nature Coast librarian who made the book order but did not serve on the committee, said its description of small-town life merited comparison to Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.
"I was reading sections of this to my husband in bed," said Kershner, praising McCammon's writing. "I was so glad I read this story."
Maryrose Wood's Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love prompted chuckles, but the committee quickly agreed there was nothing in the young-adult novel remotely worth banning.
Wooten, whose summer reading tastes run to lighter fare, declared it her favorite.
Also serving on the committee was Sue Kern, a media specialist at Central High.
The committee's recommendations will be sent to superintendent Wendy Tellone and the School Board for final action, Wooten said.
Tom Marshall can be reached at tmarshall@sptimes.com or (352) 848-1431.