DIXFIELD — A committee charged with reviewing a Buckfield school library book that was challenged by a parent recommended to the RSU 10 board Monday night that the book remain in the library. A student may take it out with parental permission, the committee suggested.

At issue is the 2007 book, “Stuck in the Middle: 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age,” written by Ariel Schrag.

Becky Patterson, mother of a Buckfield Junior-Senior High School middle school boy, asked that the book be removed from the library because of objectionable sexual and language references.

School board Chairman Jerry Wiley said Monday’s meeting was a hearing at which the board listened to the committee’s recommendation as well as to objections by Patterson, her partner, Randy Felker, and Pastor Don Church of Faith Bible Chapel in Buckfield.

Wiley said the special committee was composed of the school’s principal, a parent, librarians and two teachers.

Superintendent Tom Ward said the Jan. 9 meeting will be for deliberations by the board, only, and not the public.

The book is made up of comic-book-style situations that middle and high school youngsters may experience.

Patterson said Tuesday that she wants the book out of the library and in the classroom where it could be taught properly.

“There’s sexual content and foul language. I want the correct approach to this book. (Having it in the library) is a very lazy way to teach criminal behavior,” she said.

She also objected to the issuance of parts of the book to board members at the previous meeting on Nov. 28, saying that the book should be considered as a whole.

Wiley and Ward said the entire book is now available for each board member to review prior to the Jan. 9 meeting.

Schrag, reached at home in Brooklyn, N.Y., Tuesday night, said she believes some parents may object to the book because it was in comic book/picture style and may be more noticed. She said most young adult books have similar sexual references and language in them.

She said in a statement that every parent has the right to monitor what their children read.

“But my intent in editing this book was to help children who may be experiencing some of the things the characters in the book experience — bullying, rejection, acne, depression, etc. — to feel less alone,” she wrote.

“In terms of foul language, sexual content, and teen smoking in this book, all the authors strove to present teens and pre-teens in a realistic light,” the statement continued.

She said she is aware of two challenges to the book in North Dakota.

Patterson said there are other ways to teach children that aren’t so vulgar.

“It’s very demoralizing to little girls,” she said. “I want all parents to be aware of what’s in this book.”

Schrag, 31, said in her statement, “The bottom line, to me, is that it’s good that this parent is aware of what his or her child is reading, but he or she should trust that other parents can make the same judgments about their children’s readiness for such a book.”

This is the first time in Ward’s eight years as superintendent that a book has been challenged in one of his schools.

“I was very pleased with the whole process. It followed the policy. Everyone was very respectful,” he said Tuesday night.

Copy the Story Link