Chloe's Friends

 

The last time I was in a middle school library, I found “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pitman” in nonfiction. It’s a mistake I hope I wouldn’t have made if I’d ever become the school librarian I’d dreamed of being at age ten. I know school libraries have limited shelf space, and a limited book budget. I’m amazed to hear debate over removing “Out of Darkness” from secondary school libraries.  What seems clear to me is none of the people arguing have read this book. I have. I can tell you it deals with racial prejudice in 1930’s Texas. It also contains graphic depictions of sex and violence as well as those words most parents try to keep out of their kids’ mouths and minds. It’s well written, but to call it teen fiction is itself fiction. Banning this book won’t keep it from being read – quite the opposite. But I’d like to know who thought it belonged in school.