Lake Wales parent wants Anastasia books removed from schools.
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 Lois Lowry |
By Andrew Dunn
The Ledger
LAKELAND -- Author Lois Lowry says she's surprised and dismayed that someone wants to ban her Anastasia series of books from Polk County schools.
"I'm against book banning just in general principle," she said. "Those particular books, I'm just astonished that anyone wants to remove them from the library."
Kristi Hardee, the mother of a fourth-grader at Spook Hill Elementary in Lake Wales, asked the Polk County School Board on Tuesday to remove the six Anastasia books in the school's library. There are nine Anastasia books in the series.
Hardee, who was backed by her father-inlaw, a minister at Lake Region Baptist Church, would also like the books removed from every elementary library in Polk.
The matter was referred to Spook Hill's literature review committee, which will read the books in question and render a decision Feb. 23.
The books focus on the life of a pre-adolescent heroine, Anastasia Krupnik, who is age 10-13 in the books. Some of her trials include: dealing with an impending baby brother; proving she and her father can run their household when her mother is gone; and first relationships with boys.
Hardee objected to scenes that make reference to stuffing bras, snapping bras and other talk that she deemed "vulgar."
Lowry, a 67-year-old mother of four and grandmother of four, lives and writes in Cambridge, Mass. She's written about 30 novels aimed at mostly younger readers.
She's twice won the annual Newbery Award, given annually to the author who has made the "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children."
On her Web site, Lowry writes, "My books have varied in content and style. Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections."
Lowry said she's not aware of any content in the Anastasia books that would be too risque for a 9-to-12-year-old to read.
"I think they're quite mild and funny," she said.
"I can't think of anything in them that is not appropriate for elementary-aged children." She said she's a little surprised that someone would object to the books now, years after they were written.
"The first one was finished in 1979," she said. "So they've been around for a long time in elementary libraries."
She said there are some scenes in the books, such as someone using a typewriter, that really date them.
"They probably fall into the category of historical fiction by now," she said.
Lowry is surprised that anyone would spend time trying to get rid of her books.
"I think there are more important issues in the world than just these books," she said.
But Lowry is not a stranger to book challenges.
The original Anastasia series and another book, "The Giver," were both in the top 30 of the American Library Association's list of most frequently challenged books between 1990 and 2000.
Lowry said a parent once wrote to her questioning some of the language in "Anastasia Krupnik," the first book in the series, after learning about it from his son.
In the letter she sent in response, she wrote, "A writer tries to reproduce human experience and to create realistic characters, and in the book you refer to, which was published 18 years ago, one character says a bad word, it is true. Anastasia's father points out that it is inappropriate; and obviously your son, since he pointed it out, knows the same thing. I don't think it did him any damage."
She added: "Actually, I am a parent myself. I care a great deal not only about my own children, but about yours. They are growing up in a very complicated and difficult world, and they will have tough decisions to make throughout their lives. Literature plays an important role in teaching them what the world is like."
Andrew Dunn can be reached at andrew.dunn@theledger.com or 863-802-7588. Ledger editor Billy Townsend contributed to this story.