Anderson's Books Stir Controversy Leading into Banned Books Week

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By Rocco Staino -- School Library Journal, 09/21/2009

Laurie Halse Anderson’s books seem to be causing a stir around the country, just in time for Banned Books Week.

Anderson tweeting at the Brooklyn Book Festival earlier this month.

California’s Temecula Valley Unified School District recently voted 4–1 to include Speak (Farrar, 1999) on the district’s reading list, despite complaints by a board member that the 2000 Printz Honor book—which deals with a rape victim who contemplates suicide—was inappropriate.

Kristi Rutz-Robbins, the board member who cast the sole dissenting vote, told the LA Times that "rape victims, children who are emotionally and developmentally immature and those seriously interested in being prepared for college can stick to classics and other works without graphic rape scenes."

Anderson, who told School Library Journal that she supports teachers and librarians who include her books in their curriculum, also says she's not in a position to "tell local school communities what their children should read.”

The award-winning author also says she’s taken a lot of flack recently about her latest book, Wintergirls (Penguin, 2009), which deals with a girl suffering from anorexia. Critics say that the book serves as a guide for teens looking for ways to get tips on how to starve themselves. Anderson responds by saying, “We don’t protect our teenagers by holding back information.”

Meanwhile, at Indiana’s South Central Junior/Senior High School, a parent recently questioned the use of Anderson’s Twisted (Penguin, 2007) in the ninth grade English curriculum because of its harsh language. The coming-of-age novel, about family abuse, suicide, and self-discovery, won the 2008–2009 Eliot Rosewater Award, presented by the Association of Indiana Media Educators and the Indiana Library Federation. The award is voted on by ninth through twelfth graders across the state.

“I was shocked,” says Carey Sturgeon, a media specialist at the 400-student school. “Twisted is realistic fiction that doesn’t harm a high school student. Reading it is an important part of their education.”

According to Sturgeon, the English Department has the full support of its administration to use Twisted in the curriculum.