Hilarie Mukavitz

Book Challenge Paper

March 27, 2010

When the book “Paint Me As I Am” was challenged in my district, I saw firsthand just how
crucial it is to have clear selection and reconsideration policies in place. We had a committee
that consisted of administration, teachers, and community members. All of these people
needed a better idea of how the book in question was selected in the first place so they would
be able to give an educated opinion on whether it was appropriate. I found for our challenged
book everybody, from administration to the parent who had challenged the book, was
surprised at just how thorough and detailed the process was. Intellectual freedom is one more
line of defense of keeping a book on the shelf that some people may find offensive.

I definitely would have chosen “One of Those Hideous Books…”. The reviews are
overwhelmingly positive. I found any sexual references in there were asking the same
questions that most teens ask. However there wasn’t any graphic descriptions of sex in the
book. It had a very modern fun feel to it, and I could see it being appealing to a lot of readers.

As a librarian, for anybody that would challenge the selection of the book, whether
administrator, parent or school board, the first thing I would do is listen very carefully to what
they had to say. Then I would explain our Selection and Reconsideration Policy and how the
book in question applied to that policy. For example, I’d probably mention some of the awards
it has won and positive reviews. If that did not work, then I would pull out the “big guns”…the
CCBC intellectual freedom information. For a parent that DID support keeping the book on the
shelf, I’d encourage them, if our policy was the sort where the public would be able to give their
opinions, to come to the hearing and speak out. For a parent that was challenging the book, I
would support their right to choose what materials are or are not appropriate for their child,
but insist the book needed to stay on the shelf for the other students. I would also make sure
to contact the CCBC so that I would have their support, and gain the additional research and
resources from them. Ultimately though, if the board would say I had to pull a book from the
shelf, I would have to comply. Although that would not stop me from getting it through
interlibrary loan if any other student requested it.