Robert Wright, a San Jose middle school teacher, saved some “deselected” library books from the Dumpster:
Tituba of Salem Village
The October Country by Ray Bradbury
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Black Stallion
The Yearling (2 copies)
Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (3 copies)
Child of the Holocaust
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
How Green Was My Valley
The Pinballs
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow–His Life
Jacob Have I Loved
Medieval Tales
Beethoven
The Making of Linguistics
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Babe The Gallant Pig
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
I Sing the Body Electric by Ray Bradbury
Ben and Me
Ivanhoe
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
Durango Street
Mutiny on the Bounty
By the Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie
Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie
All are stamped with an explanation:
This book has been replaced for one or more of the following reasons:
Material is inaccurate
Does not meet district standards
Stereotypes gender or culture
I can’t even guess why most of these were dumped. Was The Black Stallion rejected for not being African-American?
Update: The books weren’t popular with students, says the school’s “media technician.” Really? I can see where The Making of Linguistics might sit on the shelf, but they don’t have students who want to read Bradbury or Poe or The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler or Alice in Wonderland? And why not donate surplus books to schools that don’t have extra copies of The Witch of Blackbird Pond?
Thank you, Diana.
Amritas, thank you for giving me stuff to think about–once again.
And Mrs. Davis, how can you say my email was misleading when you’ve never read it?
Robert, please don’t act as if you were the aggrieved individual. It is unseemly of you. If you had simply given Joanne a link to the newspaper article or informed her that this was not a case of PC gone amuck then nobody would have jumped to the wrong conclusion.
And Mrs. Davis, how can you say my email was misleading when you’ve never read it?
So now you are trying to place the blame on Joanne for misinterpreting your email?
This incident is not a big deal. However it doesn’t say much for you for refusing to own up to the fact that your report was misleading and that you did not immediately correct that impression when people assumed that the books were discarded for reasons of political correctness.
Richard, I sent Ms. Jacobs two or three email before the news article was written so I couldn’t very well have sent her a link at the time.
You too did not see my email so I don’t understand how you can be critical of it.
I don’t place blame on Ms. Jacobs for anything. She’s a true hero of mine.
Your disappointment that it wasn’t a case of PC run amuck is misdirected. Blame the district, not the messenger.
Thank you, Richard. I couldn’t have said it better.
All I can add is that many of those books are on the shelves here in my home, where my child is educated, and I am thankful that no one can come in with a stamper and take them away. Thanks for the post. It was enlightening and infuriating and sad, all at the same time.