Questions about The Chocolate War, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and three others in Idaho.

From the Spokesman Review:

The Coeur d'Alene School Board plans to decide if restrictions need to be placed on "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers, "Dancing at the Rascal Fair" by Ivan Doig, "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou, "Snow Falling on Cedars" by David Guterson, and "Beloved" by Toni Morrison.

Cormier's book has already been restricted by requiring parental permission at some schools in the district, but not for high school students, which is what some parents want. "Fallen Angels" is also available to high school students, but not younger students without parental permission.

According to this article, the question isn't whether or not the books should be used in classrooms -- it's whether or not high school students should be required to get a permission slip signed before checking the books out of the school library.

Comments

[Lisa]

I wonder if parents can just sign a blanket permission slip, "I give my little darling permission to read ANY BOOKS SHE WANTS. Thank you for not censoring my child."

[jmfausti]

Lisa's suggestion is perfect. Have any of those people read any of the books? I know the answer is usually a resounding "no."

Fallen Angels is extremely timely, despite its Vietnam setting. I think that Myers protagonist was an amazing character, a good guy who managed to keep his humanity despite the horrors of his situation.

[a Paperback Writer]

So, isn't Coeur d'Alene the same town that had a real problem with Neo-Nazis a few years back? I do believe it was. Well, now we know what happened to them. As I recall, the original Nazis burned books. Looks like that might be happening soon here.
And as for sexual content in books, have any of these folks actually read the Old Testament? Rape, incest, all kinds of sexual variations on themes, prostitution. And then there's all that violence.
Of course the Bible's high on the list of banned books (only Shakespeare and Harry Potter books seem to be as popular for banning), so maybe it'll be up for the next chop.
Y'know, my parents never once told me not to read something. And only once did one of them hint that I'd picked up something a little too hard for me (I was 6 and had grabbed a full-length novel), but I was allowed to try anyway.
Yup, I like the idea of the "read what she wants" permission slip. Nice idea.