Some Wake parents balk at school books

Several parents and a local Christian activist group are objecting to the use of three well-known books in English classes, and Wake County school leaders are listening.

The parents and Called2Action urged the school board Tuesday not to require students to read "The Color Purple," "Beloved" and "The Chocolate War" because of their concerns about vulgar and sexually explicit language.

After meeting with the parents earlier Tuesday, board chairwoman Patti Head said board members would review the district's book-use policy and take the concerns under advisement. No decision has been made on whether to remove those books.

"There are lines that you cross where the language and the outcomes in the books are inappropriate to what we're teaching," said vice chairwoman Carol Parker, who also met with the parents.

The parents said they want to form a group to review individual school reading lists and look for other books they consider to be inappropriate for students.

None of the challenged books is on the school district's required reading lists. But teachers at individual schools can and do make their students read some of them. "The Chocolate War" made the state's list of the most-read books in English classes in a 2002 survey by the state Department of Public Instruction.

Judith Krug, director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom for the American Library Association, defended the use of those books in English classes.

"They are highly regarded and well-reviewed by anyone who knows anything about literature," Krug said. "I feel disconcerted that they're objecting to them."

The books in question

Several parents said a seventh-grade class at Reedy Creek Middle School in Cary heard a recording of "The Chocolate War" this school year. The book, by Robert Cormier, tells the story of a student who refuses to sell chocolate for his private school.

Parents focused on excerpts about masturbation and the hopelessness students feel after bullying.

"I'm not here advocating censorship or book burning," said Nathan Cobb, whose child attends Reedy Creek. "But my son isn't allowed to use these words, so they shouldn't have to read them in school."

Cobb said the book was pulled from classroom use at Reedy Creek after parents objected. But he said parents want to make sure it is not being used in other schools or that parents are at least warned about the book.

Helen Swartz, of Holly Springs, complained about her 15-year-old daughter being required to read "The Color Purple," by Alice Walker, in her Advanced Placement English class. She wouldn't identify the high school. Students are not required to take AP classes, which are used to boost grade-point averages and gain college credit.

"The Color Purple," which won a Pulitzer Prize for literature and was turned into a movie, is about a girl growing up in the South during Reconstruction. Swartz read to the board excerpts that included profanities and the rape of a teenage girl by her stepfather.

Under school district policy, a parent or student who objects to a book can request an alternative. But Swartz said the alternative used, "Beloved," also contained objectionable material. "Beloved," by Toni Morrison, is a ghost story set in the South after the Civil War.

"Parents deserve to be informed of what their children are required to read," Swartz said.

Several parents added that they had read the entire books and not just the excerpts they quoted.

Other challenges

Wake school officials said they didn't know how many books have been challenged over the years.