Amy Timberlake’s humorous picture book, The Dirty Cowboy, (Farrar, 2003) is staying off elementary school library shelves in Pennsylvania’s Annville-Cleona school district.
Despite protests by free-speech organizations and an online petition with more than 300 signatures in favor of repealing the ban, the school board last week stuck to its decision that the book was too dirty for young eyes.
The award-winning book tells the tale of a freckle-faced cowboy who decides to take his annual bath in a nearby river and asks his dog to guard his clothes. But the two get into fracas when the dog doesn’t recognize his fresh-smelling owner and refuses to hand over his clothes. The illustrations carefully conceal the cowboy’s private parts “while still keeping a G rating,” according to SLJ‘s review off the book.
The school board voted unanimously in April to remove the book after the parents of a kindergartener complained about the cowboy’s partial nudity. As a result, the Kids’ Right to Read Project, a joint project the National Coalition Against Censorship, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, sent a letter to the district asking that the book be returned to school library shelves.
“The decision to remove the book not only accedes to a specific viewpoint about the acceptability of nudity, but also deprives the entire student body of access to a highly praised book that many students, and their parents, would wish to read,” the letter states. “Those who object to this book are entitled to their view, but they may not impose it on others. Any other decision threatens the principle that is essential to individual freedom, democracy, and a good education: the right to read, inquire, question, and think for ourselves.”
The letter points out that sensitive areas of the body are artfully covered, and that the book contains no “salacious or sexually suggestive content.” If simple nudity wasn’t fully protected by the First Amendment, the letter goes on to say, a vast number of legitimate and educational materials might be banned, including books about Native Americans or other indigenous cultures, those depicting Adam and Eve or Christ on the Cross, and art history books containing images from the Sistine Chapel or Botticelli’s Birth of Venus.
“The practical effect of acceding to any request to restrict access to materials is to invite others to demand changes to reflect their beliefs, which would leave school officials vulnerable to multiple, possibly conflicting, demands, and leave the library in tatters,” the letter goes on to say. “The role of the library is to allow students and parents to make choices according to their own interests, experiences, and family values.”
The American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom also sent a letter to the school board asking it to reconsider the ban.
“Like many books, it may not be right for every student at Cleona Elementary,” wrote Barbara Jones, director of the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom. “But the school library has a responsibility to meet the needs of everyone in the school community-not just the most vocal, the most powerful, or even the majority. If a parent thinks a particular book is not suitable for their child, they should guide their children to other books. They should not be given the power to impose their beliefs or preferences on other people’s children.”
Michael Clark, the 294th person to sign on the online petition, wrote, “As a school librarian this is appalling. As someone whose parents and eight other aunts and uncles graduated from Annville-Cleona, I know of the schools to have a long history of excellence, but this just makes it a laughing stock of the USA.
Cynthia McDermott, another person who signed the petition, described the book as “a lovely story with a lovely moral response. How can you be so foolish to ban this? As a former Pennsylvanian and now a professor who teaches children’s literature, I am ashamed at your actions. This is not a communist country.”
Thomas Tshudy, president of the Annville-Cleona school board, said “reasonable minds can differ” over the decision to ban the book. The complaints mainly focused on 19 illustrations by Adam Rex of the cowboy running through the desert naked, with his private parts strategically covered by objects such as birds, a boot, a cloud of dust, and a dog’s tail.
Before the school board’s vote, the district’s book review committee voted 5-1 to remove the book, with Cleona librarian Anita Mentzer voting against it. Other committee members included Annville-Cleona Superintendent Steven Houser, the assistant superintendent, the technology director, and Cleona Elementary’s principal.
The book has received numerous awards, including the 2004 International Reading Association award, the Parents Choice Gold Medal, and the Bulletin Blue Ribbon from the Bulletin for the Center for Children’s Books.
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