OIF urges Alamogordo, N.M, schools to reinstate Gaiman’s “Neverwhere”
The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom has sent a letter to the superintendent of the Alamogordo, N. M., Public Schools, asking that the district rescind its removal of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere from Alamogordo High School classrooms and the library.
The ban, which was reported last week, came after a parent complained about content on one page of the book. In interviews, Superintendent George Straface has stated that the removal is temporary, pending a review of the book by school administrators.
In the letter, OIF Director Barbara Jones points out that the removal of the book goes against the interests of students – as well as against the stated policies of the school district:
As your own policies emphasize, “Resources shall be recommended for their strengths rather than rejected for their weaknesses, and shall be judged as a whole.”
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One thought on “OIF urges Alamogordo, N.M, schools to reinstate Gaiman’s “Neverwhere””
Good – but, everyone keeps reporting that the book was removed from the school library, which is NOT the case. Use in the classroom was suspended pending review, and I think we need to give the school time to do just that. Hopefully, reviewers will see that the two-paragraph section in question would make no sense if the characters were portrayed, say, knitting, since the scene is there to demonstrate that people may behave badly when they think no one is watching. Reporting the situation inaccurately, however, just adds fuel to the fire and ruins everyone’s credibility.