I am appalled that marking out offensive words would even be considered as
an option.......
How would I ever decide what I should mark out? One person's idea might not
match mine. A perfect example: One year a parent came to me because of the
cursing in Bridge to Teribitha. I asked her to show me and the offending
passages were when the boy said "gosh I am dumb." and similar statements.
I provided her with our paper to complete for the reconsideration committee,
which she never returned. I think she was stopped with the question "What
harm will come to children who read this book?"
I recommend that your district/board adopt a policy and procedure for
handling books to which there is an objection. Then, FOLLOW that guide
perfectly.
And finally, one year a student brought a book to me in which the
character said "damn." I then had a talk about why the author might have
had the character use the word, what we learned about the character by the
language and whether the choice of language had a purpose in the story or
not..........I choose to think I taught the student something that day.
Mary Ludwick, Librarian K-5 Elementary
Owen Elementary, The Colony, Texas (near Dallas)
ludwickm@lisd.net (school address)
ludwick@swbell.net (home address)
"Those who don't read have no advantage over
those who can't." Mark Twain
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