Elliott Landon: Denied request to remove “The Lovely Bones.” WN file photoWestport Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon has rejected a request to remove a book from the Coleytown Middle School library.
A parent last month requested “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold be removed from the library, and the Challenged Materials Committee spent several meetings reviewing the request (See WestportNow Dec. 18).
The committee recommended to Landon he not remove the book from the library, and in a Jan. 5 letter he supported the committee’s decision.
In the first chapter of the book, which was published in 2002, a 14-year-old girl is walking home from school when she is abducted, raped and killed by a neighbor.
In his letter, Landon wrote that the committee members, all of whom read the book, acknowledge that the book is “for mature readers” and also acknowledge that “the book is appropriate to be part of a middle school library collection serving students from ages 11-14, many of whom possess the maturity level to read this book.”
Landon further writes middle school students requested the book and that it has been reviewed and named on “three lists used for middle school collection development.”
Further, he wrote, “The committee recognized the school system’s responsibility top stretch the collection of each of Westport’s school library collection to reach every child.
In effect, the committee confirmed that the school system would be abrogating its responsibility to serve the needs of all students if it limited the collection of our middle school library.”
Landon could not be reached for comment this afternoon.
Using the quote from the book in the fourth paragraph is certainly a way to make the article more incendiary than is necessary. It is the last paragraph that appears unless one ‘clicks’ for more. Aside from the quote the article is well done. Had the fifth paragraph preceded the fourth, I think it would vastly improve the piece.