[LM_NET] Book controversy in Mass.

[Rebecca Graham <regjjp@GCI.NET>]

This is an interesting controversy. When I looked online I found that 
One More River had a similar controversy in Baltimore in 2000 and the 
response was to remove it from the curriculum.  Native Americans have 
been VERY critical of The Indian in the Cupboard series and have found 
non-Indians to have been oblivious and non-responsive to some pretty 
well-founded objections. There is a very good article I was able to 
access through Ebsco:

Taylor, Rhonda Harris. "Indian in the Cupboard: a case study in 
perspective" in QUALITATIVE STUDIES IN EDUCATION, 2000, VOL. 13, NO. 4, 
371–384

It's not too surprising that Ms. Banks has an earlier book about which 
there are similar objections from a group portrayed in the book. I 
wouldn't want to call this censorship or "banning" -- we are talking 
about instructional materials here, not about removing it from a 
library.  One More River is not a new book; it was published in 1970. I 
wonder if there aren't more current fiction works about Palestinians 
and Israelis which would give a different perspective.

Rebecca Graham
Currently subbing librarian
Anchorage, Alaska
regjjp@gci.net
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