Village School Takes Controversial Book Off Reading List

KOCO | via Yahoo News |
A required summer-reading book for eighth graders recently caused controversy in a metro-area private school, Eyewitness News 5 learned Thursday.

Parents whose children attend the private school in The Village recently received a letter apologizing if they were "offended by the content" of the novel "Montana 1948."

School officials -- who asked not to be identified -- took the title off their required reading list, saying the book contains nudity, bad language and descriptions of sex crimes.

Oklahoma City middle school librarian Paula Morrow said the concern over "Montana 1948" is certainly not new.

"Censorship ... The Bible has been censored, Harry Potter has been censored," she said. "Everything that happens in our lives is controversial, and books represent the human experience."

Morrow said that in her seven years of choosing books for children, she has seen plenty of controversy. However, she said her opinion is it is up to parents -- not schools -- to decide what their children read.

"As a parent, you have a right to protect your child," she said. "But you don't have the right to say other people can't read this book."