L. McMaken
1-24-12
Cincinnati, OH
The Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Beloved by author Toni Morrison is being challenged by a Michigan school district. The book was assigned to an AP English class at Plymouth-Canton Community Schools. Several parents have contested the book based on content and state they find it inappropriate reading for a high school age reader.
From the Plymouth, Michigan Edition of news blog PATCH.COM: “Barb Dame argued that Beloved was a fictitious account set upon its real-life backdrop of slavery, and contained gratuitous language, violence and sex acts that provide no historical context for the reader. She also argued the book was given an 870 Lexile rate, which rates the complexity of the language within a work. A Lexile score of 870 equates to about a fifth-grade reading level. She compared its Lexile rating to Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach.”
The school board welcomes opinions and they can be posted via their email at suggestions@pccsmail.net. As of this posting, no decision on whether they will withdraw the book or leave it as a reading assignment has been made.
