Highland Park ISD Bans Controversial Books From Approved List
HIGHLAND PARK (KRLD) -- The Highland Park Independent School District has banned several books from its approved reading list after hundreds of complaints about controversial topics in the text.
Parents and alumni complained that the now-banned books contain explicit sex scenes and references to rape, abuse, homosexuality, and abortion.
"There was essentially a series of emails -- and by that I believe hundreds of emails -- from parents, community members, and alumni," said Superintendent Dawson Orr. "In those emails, the request was actually made for the formal removal of various titles."
Dr. Orr says it was a "coordinated" and "genuine" effort to remove the books from the list, but the decision to do so is not final.
A committee of parents, teachers, and students will take several months to review the books, and some or all of them could be restored to the district's approved reading list.
The books banned by the recent actions include:
-- "The Art of Racing in the Rain", By Garth Stein
-- "The Working Poor: Invisible in America", By David K. Shipler
-- "Siddhartha", By Herman Hesse
-- "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian", By Sherman Alexie
-- "An Abundance of Katherines", By John Green
-- "The Glass Castle: A Memoir", By Jeannette Walls
-- "Song of Solomon", By Toni Morrison
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