School District's Library Advisory Committee Makes Recommendations for Three Challenged Books

The Mat-Su Borough School District’s Library Advisory Committee evaluated three books at its October meeting last week.

The books scheduled for review were The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Flamer by Mike Curato, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Due to a miscommunication about which version of the book was being read, the committee did not make a recommendation on The Handmaid’s Tale, and will re-visit it at the November meeting.

For each book, the committee votes twice. The first vote covers whether members believe the book being reviewed violates the Alaska statute on distribution of indecent material to minors. The second vote is the committee’s recommendation on which, if any, school district libraries should keep the book on their shelves.

The committee unanimously voted that Persepolis and The Kite Runner do not violate Alaska statute. Members also unanimously voted to recommend that The Kite Runner be retained only in high school libraries. For Persepolis, four members voted to retain the book at the high school level only, three voted for the book to be allowed in middle and high school libraries, and three voted to not allow it in any school libraries.

Flamer saw a much more divided vote amongst committee members. The vote on whether the book violates state was split five votes to five.  Six members voted to allow the book in high school libraries, only. Four voted to remove it from all school libraries.

The committee’s votes are not binding. They are recommendations to the Mat-Su Borough School Board, who will make the ultimate decision on each book at a later date.

The books to be evaluated in November are The Handmaid’s Tale, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Sold, Persepolis 2, and This One Summer.

The committee’s next meeting is scheduled for November 9^th in Palmer. Audio of the meetings is streamed live by Big Cabbage Radio.