Fond du Lac schools reject plan to pull book

FOND DU LAC - In a rare hearing, the Fond du Lac School District rejected a parent's plea to pull a book from middle school shelves. District leaders say Fond du Lac has never banned a book and this was only the second time they've considered removing a selection.

A special reconsideration committee took public comment before making the ruling late Thursday.

"This would have been a wonderful book in my opinion, had Ms. Sones left the sexual content out or written on a high school reading level," Ann Wentworth told the committee as it reviewed her request.

Wentworth wants the book, "One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies," by Sonya Sones removed from the Theisen Middle School library. She also wants the district to consider pulling six other books she feels are too sexually explicit for that age.

Others at the hearing argued that doing so would move the district on a dangerous road towards censorship.

"The removal of books, the suppression of ideas, art or philosophy has never been the preferred solution to issues of morality and ethics," another Theisen parent said.

The district listened to 12 speakers, including the author, who defended her novel in a letter read by Supt. James Sebert.

"When read carefully, it becomes obvious that my book is sending the message that it is undesirable for them to have early sex," Sones wrote of her young adult novel.

The committee will keep the book on the shelves and plans to consider the six others individually. They include four books in the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" series by Ann Brashares, "Get Well Soon" by Julie Halpern and "What my Mother Doesn't Know," also by Sones.

"There has to be a compelling reason to remove the book, otherwise it's part of that whole First Amendment piece," district director of curriculum and instruction John Whitsett said.

The district does offer a book screening process for parents that allows them to restrict what their child can check out from school libraries. But parents at the meeting, including Wentworth, weren't familiar with it. They said the technology made the hearing a moot point and are eager to embrace it.

The district says it is a new system, only in place since July. District leaders are now planning to advertise its availability.