Montgomery County Receives 16 Book ChallengesA respite from
more than three years of challenges
to the book selection policies of Montgomery County (Tex.) Memorial
Library System ended rather emphatically this summer with the filing
of 16 requests for reconsideration—15 since mid-June. The
complainants “have a right to their opinion,” Library Director
Jerilynn A. Williams said in the July 27 Conroe Courier,
adding, “We support their rights to choose books for their children
to read.”
The objections to the 16 books, mostly consisting of young-adult
fiction with a gay-positive theme, are posted at the Library Patrons of Texas
website, whose launch was announced at a July 26 press conference by
activists Sheila and Tommy Taylor. The language describing the books
is similar to those posted at the website of the Fairfax County,
Virginia–based Parents Against Bad
Books in Schools, to which Library Patrons of Texas links,
according to the Courier. “It seems to be a concerted
effort,” Williams commented.
To date, the committee has considered the Taylors’ challenges to
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and The
Sissy Duckling by Harvey Fierstein, neither of which were
removed or restricted.
The other 14 titles are:
- My Father’s Scar, Michael Cart
- Dance on My Grave, Aidan Chambers
- Stuck Rubber Baby, Howard Cruse
- My Brother Has AIDS, Deborah Davis
- Deal With It! Esther Drill
- Eight Seconds, Jean Ferris
- My Heartbeat, Garret Freymann-Weyr
- The Drowning of Stephan Jones, Bette Greene
- Good Moon Rising and Holly’s Secret, Nancy
Garden
- Hey, Dollface, Deborah Hautzig
- What I Know Now, Rodger Larson
- Rainbow Boys, Alex Sanchez
- Peter, Kate Walker
The Library Patrons of Texas site claims it “does not advocate
censorship,” but favors “local control of taxpayer-funded libraries
and responsible age-appropriate selection, classification, and
access policies sensitive to local community standards and
values.”
Posted July 30, 2004. |
