DAILY PROGRESS
Pat Fitzgerald | April 25, 2012

A Greene County couple wants an award-winning book removed from William Monroe High School.

Georgie and Steve North say they are upset that their son, Nicholas, a freshman in the William Monroe Academy, was given the book “Feed,” by M.T. Anderson, to read. They say the book is “trash” and “covered with the F-word.”

According to the inside cover of the Candlewick Press book, “Feed” is about “Titus, whose ability to read write and even think for himself has been almost completely obliterated by his ‘feed,’ a transmitter implanted directly into his brain. Feeds are a crucial part of life for Titus and his friends. After all, how would they know where to party on the moon, how to get bargains at Weatherbee & Crotch, or how to accessorize the mysterious lesions everyone’s been getting? But then Titus meets Violet, a girl who cares about what’s happening to the world and challenges everything Titus and his friends hold dear. A girl who decides to fight the feed.

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POST-CRESCENT
Megan Nicolai | April 23, 2012

Rejecting a campaign by a group of parents unhappy with the choice of books for a high school class, the Appleton Area School District will not offer the option of an alternative ninth-grade Communication Arts course.

Appleton’s Board of Education voted against a request to provide an alternative curriculum for Communication Arts 1010 made by members of Valley School Watch, a parent group formed after an Appleton parent challenged the use of “The Body of Christopher Creed” in 2010 because of its references to suicide and sex.

“The educational material selection policy states that the parent has the right to judge whether certain materials are acceptable for his or her child,” board member Diane Barkmeier said in a presentation. “However, no individual or organization has the right to limit the students’ access to materials that are part of the district’s educational program.”

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LEBANON DAILY NEWS
Brad Rhen | April 19, 2012

The Annville-Cleona School Board is scheduled to vote at its meeting tonight on banning an award-winning children’s book after a student’s parents complained that illustrations in the book are pornographic.

A committee convened to evaluate the complaint has apparently agreed with the parents and has recommended removing the book from the district’s elementary-school libraries.

Earlier this year, the district removed the book “The Dirty Cowboy” by Amy Timberlake from the shelves at Cleona Elementary School, pending a review.

The committee evaluating “The Dirty Cowboy” convened on April 12.

The book, illustrated by Adam Rex, is the story of a young cowboy who needs his annual bath and instructs his dog to watch his clothes while he bathes. When the cowboy emerges from his bath in the river, the dog does not recognize his familiar smell and refuses to give back the cowboy’s clothes.

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Related articles:
A-C: Too dirty
(Lebanon Daily News | April 20, 2012)

‘The Dirty Cowboy’ author: Book ban ‘ridiculous’
(Lebanon Daily News | Brad Rhen | April 20, 2012)

FOND DU LAC REPORTER
Sharon Roznik | April 11, 2012

The best-selling book “Fifty Shades of Grey” will not be found on the shelves at Fond du Lac Public Library.

Library Director Ken Hall said there were no plans to purchase the controversial book, which delves into romance and sadomasochism.

“‘We don’t collect erotica’,” Hall said he was told by the person who orders books for the library — and he supports the decision.

Meanwhile, other libraries are carrying the novel, which reached the top of the fiction charts and is the first in a trilogy by British author E.L. James. The print version had been hard to come by in bookstores, so readers have been forced to read the e-book edition, which was released first.

At Ripon Public Library, Librarian Desiree Bongers said there were 75 holds for the book in the system.

“Based on our selection policy, we do have the book in our library. It is put out by a large, mainstream publisher, there’s been a lot of publicity for it and people are asking for it,” Bongers said.

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