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Monday, June 20, 2011

Books Sherman Alexie Book Banned By People Who Didn't Read Sherman Alexie Book

Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 1:13 PM

A Sherman Alexie book is being banned from the Richland school district, says the Tri-City Herald:

Students in Richland school classes won't read an award-winning book by a Northwest author in the foreseeable future.
The Richland School Board voted 3-2 this week to prohibit use of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie in classrooms of any grade level.
The book had been piloted in a ninth-grade English class last fall and then was reviewed by the district's Instructional Materials Committee.
The original question before the board was whether to use Absolutely True in freshman classes. But the final vote took it away from all students.
None of the board members had read Absolutely True, they conceded.

Don't these mouth-breathers know that every time you ban a book, you make that book more popular?

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Comments (19) RSS

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Dear Paul Constant,

This post paints mouth-breathers in a bad light. Some of us only ban books we've actually read. Like The Perks of Being a Wallflower due to the fact that it is terrible.

Love,
Jocelyn

Posted by Jocelyn

on June 20, 2011 at 1:18 PM

Yay, Richland! Kids need to read more Alexie.

Posted by TVDinner

on June 20, 2011 at 1:24 PM

Sherman just sank another free-throw and cashed another check.
What will Richland ban from their kids next? The tainted drinking water? Sunshine? The Border Patrol? Clint Didier wheat? Condoms?

Posted by Lens1

on June 20, 2011 at 1:25 PM

Good thing that Lady Gaga didn't win the MMVA on Sunday

Posted by Will in Seattle

on June 20, 2011 at 1:33 PM

How lovely. An article blasting people who banned a book without reading it, right next to a piece about a movie that the Stranger critic didn't bother watching.

Posted by bryanrust on June 20, 2011 at 1:42 PM

You are making the assumption that members of the Richland school board can read.

Posted by Mr. Happy Sunshine on June 20, 2011 at 1:51 PM

It's just amazing that they'd take no pride in having a internationally admired (not to mention sexy as fuck) writer from eastern Washington in their library. Of course, he's probably laughing his ass off at them right now.

Posted by gloomy gus on June 20, 2011 at 2:15 PM

Did they ban it, or just not select it for use in the curriculum? Those have different meanings, in my view (banning = removing copies from the library, etc.).

Posted by Julie in Eugene on June 20, 2011 at 2:17 PM

i loved this book, and i hope that this absurdity gets it into the hands of more kids.

Posted by mr. herriman on June 20, 2011 at 2:18 PM

Julie @8, now that you mention it, the linked article does say it's just not going to be used in the curriculum. No mention of removing it from the school library. I suspect Paul may have taken Sloggetic license with his headline verb.

Posted by gloomy gus on June 20, 2011 at 2:24 PM

@8: I think it's pretty clear that voting to prohibit use of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian...in classrooms of any grade level constitutes banning the book in a school.

Which is totally stupid. It's a fantastic book, and you'd think that many students particularly in Eastern Washington would both find much to relate to in the book, and also new perspectives for their fellow students.

It's the ideal kind of contemporary book to teach in high-school english classes. "Teach," of course, meaning to read and analyze and discuss the issues brought up by the book and by the students reading the book in their engagement with it. Apparently, the Richmond board thinks teaching kids using literature is akin to handing them a book and saying "here read this and do what it tells you to do."

Posted by Captain Wiggette on June 20, 2011 at 2:33 PM

More sales for Alexie!

Posted by mischiefmanager on June 20, 2011 at 2:49 PM

@8: Prohibited from use seems pretty close to banning.

So, maybe Alexie or his publisher should make free copies available to students at the Richland schools that they encourage the students to carry around at school.

Posted by seatackled on June 20, 2011 at 3:02 PM

@8 - Yeah, I think if they decided it wasn't working in the curriculum (which, if you're teaching to a test... well.) but "prohibit" is a strong word. And to "prohibit" the book in all grade levels? You'd think it was NAKED LUNCH... wait, I read that in high school. Never mind. Prohibition of reading material is just dumb.

Posted by Soupytwist

on June 20, 2011 at 3:38 PM

Morons. That's a fantastic book, and Alexie is undoubtedly the best author the eastern half of this state has ever hatched. It is a crime that this book isn't required reading for every high school student in WA.

Posted by Reverse Polarity on June 20, 2011 at 4:08 PM

Perhaps the mouthbreathers know that their position is somewhat reliant on the will of a cranky and ignorant group of prudish parents.

But perhaps they also know that the surest way to turn a teen off to a book is to force them to read it, while the surest way to get them to read a book is to ban it.

Posted by Foghorn Leghorn on June 20, 2011 at 4:15 PM

Can we donate copies to the local public library?

Posted by Drew2u on June 20, 2011 at 7:30 PM

If they make the book more popular, where's the problem?

Posted by JPR on June 21, 2011 at 11:14 AM

This article: [ http://cedarrepublican.com/news/article_… from the Cedar Republican "The Absolutely True Diary … Absolutely Banned" ]
says "The Stockton R-1 School Board unanimously voted to keep the book, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” out of the Stockton High School curriculum, and voted 5-2 to keep it out of the high school library" so I think 'banned' is the correct term.

Posted by popey on June 21, 2011 at 1:35 PM