School pulls book from library after complaint

by Bob McClay/News-Talk 92.3 KTAR (May 13th, 2011 @ 5:28pm)

Arizona Wildfire News

PHOENIX -- A Paradise Valley elementary school decided to pull a book out of its library after a parent complained about it.

Lovingly Alice is a fictional novel that is part of a series called "Alice by Phillis Reynolds Naylor." The book's eight publishers say it is appropriate for children ages nine and up, but when Hillary Lockhart's eight-year-old fourth grader checked it out of the library she realized that may not have been the case.

The book, she says, describes sex in great detail.

"My child can't go and rent a rated-R movie unless they're a certain age," she said. "We should have the same restrictions for books.

"There's nothing on here that tells me that there is sexual content that is advised for a nine-year-old. That to me is craziness."

Lockhart complained to the principal at Quail Run Elementary, who pulled the book through the end of the school year. A hearing will determine whether it comes back next year at Quail Run, but kids at other Paradise Valley District schools can still check it out.


Last 5 Comments

  • Reply Abuse Vote
    School is for ACADEMICS
    Jshope
    When the educational system starts teaching other topics, they move into the area of religion. To quote a popular quote by leftists, there must be a "wall of separation" between the government and questions of a moral, ethical, and personal nature.
  • Reply Abuse Vote
    Shame on Paradise Valley ED for allowing
    abogada987
    Quail Run's administration to cave to the lowest common denominator. Allowing one repressed parent's rigid value system to dictate what other parent's children may choose to read is an educational abomination. Better for that school to tell that parent to request a block be put on HER child's card so that that child can not check out books without mommy's okay. Paradise Valley should not be joining this woman as she tries to stifle other's educational aspirations.
  • Reply Abuse Vote
    Not recommended for the sheltered.
    abogada987
    "'Lovingly Alice' is a frank and honest read about a girl on the brink of puberty who has lots of unanswered questions. Alice is a typical tween girl but she is motherless. Although her dad and brother are supportive, Alice finds herself missing her mom during this transitional stage of her life. Her dad must answer her questions about the birds and the bees, and a frank and detailed discussion takes place about the mechanics of sex (and Alice is a little horrified)."
  • Reply Abuse Vote
    Mothers of all faiths...
    ClassicFilm
    Per BookList, this book is intended for grades 4-7 & is sexually graphic. It doesn't belong on a school library shelf unless parents can evaluate it and/or give permission for their child to read it. To abogada987: You assuming that the mother who complained is Christian, & not Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, Jehovah's Witness, Mormon, agnostic, atheist - is grossly bigoted. Mothers of all faiths & races are against inappropriate books for young students, not just Christian mothers. How offensive of you. The Bible isn't on public school library shelves. Statists took care of that years ago.
  • Reply Abuse Vote
    Removing a book
    crashoverride
    I think this just goes to show that one person who complains can make the world a worse off place, when i was in high school i carried around 3 banned books The Anarchist Cookbook, The FBI Handbook and The worst case scenario, all 3 banned from school and public libraries funny thing is, one parent complained i was letting kids read them and then i was punished for lending out books... hmmm maybe we need to have an underground library for school children to actually get to read a book without have a parent flip out over printed words....
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