book banning

[milowent]

www.brotherhood2.com/?p=102

one of john's fellow authors (maureen johnson) has had her book The Bermudez Triangle banned from Bartlesville (Oklahoma), High School.

Apparently the book is noncontroversial except for dealing with a homosexual relationship (apparently taboo in Oklahoma, even at a high school). This seems to be a good summary from an amazon.com commenter:

The Bermudez Triangle centers around three best friends: Nina Bermudez, class president and born leader, Avery Dekker, a grungy and sarcastic rocker, and Melanie Forrest, the sweet and shy girl guys can't help but crush on. Up until this point, the girls have been inseperable, however, when Nina goes away for the summer to a leadership camp, changes begin to take place within the triangle. Three very different girls with different interests and priorities. Oh no. Can their friendship survive? On the surface it sounds tired and overused, and yet Johnson manages to breathe enough life into this YA Fiction cliche to produce an immensely enjoyable book. The characters are very likeable yet believable, and Johnson keeps her readers hooked with a fun and fluid style. Most importantly, "The Bermudez Triangle" confronts the topic of sexual identity from several perspectives, an issue that many teens encounter firsthand.

John wrote the following email to school officials:

Dear Mr. McCauley, Mrs. Vernon, and Dr. Rosenberger,

My name is John Green. I am the author of the novels “Looking for Alaska” and “An Abundance of Katherines.” I am deeply distressed by your decision to remove Maureen Johnson’s novel “The Bermudez Triange” from the Bartlesville Mid High library. It is an excellent novel of considerable merit, and it makes absolutely no sense to deprive your students of the opportunity to read it.

Your decision is perhaps explained by the fact that, apparently, none of you has actually had the chance to read “The Bermudez Triangle.” I would be happy to send you each a copy of the book free of charge so that you may read it. Also, as thanks to librarian Susan Hunt for defending intellectual freedom, I would like to donate other critically acclaimed and award-winning works of young adult literature to your high-school library.

Please let me know if these donations would be acceptable to you and the address to which I should send them. If you’d like to discuss this matter over the phone, please feel free to call me at (phone number redacted*). I can also be contacted at this email address. But you shouldn’t worry too much about getting in touch. If I don’t hear from you for a while, I’ll just call you.

Best wishes,
John Green

here are their email addresses if you are interesting in writing them about it:

[e-mail]
Mrs. Janet Vernon
Executive Director of Secondary

[e-mail]
Dr. Richard Rosenberger
Executive Director of Human Resources

[e-mail]
Mr. Chuck McCauley
Principal of Bartlesville High School

[hyemew]

OK though I found his last line a little unprofessional for such a letter:

"But you shouldn’t worry too much about getting in touch. If I don’t hear from you for a while, I’ll just call you."

That comes off as vaguely threatening and therefore runs the risk of undermining the point of his letter. I think he certainly is in his bounds to try and call them if they don't respond, but the way he stated it and at the end for added emphasis sort of comes off the wrong way to me...

[milowent]

hyemew said:

OK though I found his last line a little unprofessional for such a letter:

"But you shouldn’t worry too much about getting in touch. If I don’t hear from you for a while, I’ll just call you."

That comes off as vaguely threatening and therefore runs the risk of undermining the point of his letter. I think he certainly is in his bounds to try and call them if they don't respond, but the way he stated it and at the end for added emphasis sort of comes off the wrong way to me...

well, perhaps you are right, hyemew. i believe john intends to call them while vlogging friday if he doesn't hear from them. his point that the people probably haven't even read the book is a good one though. if i was in one of those positions, i don't know how i would handle the issue. i think i would tell parents we would have to ban the bible if we banned most of the books they complain about, because the bible has some freaky shit in it. however, i would not call it "freaky shit."

[jayhenry]

[curiousgeorge]

milowent said:

[ i think i would tell parents we would have to ban the bible if we banned most of the books they complain about, because the bible has some freaky shit in it. however, i would not call it "freaky shit."

Now Milo, I think we agreed to not feed the Monkey. I think we have had enough tirades for the day, although I am sorry I missed the live-time goings on and could only read the recap.

I can't resist.... Grrrrrr.

This country is under attack by Theocrats, akin to the Taliban, who want to push their distorted values and mores on a secular country. This issue is just the tip of the iceberg with these people, they are VERY well organized (no drinking or sex helps you stay on track) and they have a SERIOUS agenda. I consider them a threat to ALL of our precious civil liberties.

Off my Soap Branch, Milo you knew you could get me rolling didn't ya .

[flwright]

Book banning=Book burning.

The Founding Parents are rolling in their graves. Shame on the Bartlesville School Board.

[jayhenry]