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Ala. School Board Yanks
Whale Talk Off Shelves
Sunday, July 1, 2007
In a northern Alabama County, a majority of school board members voted in 2005 to ban the novel Whale Talk from school libraries.
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Chris Crutcher |
The parent of a high school student had complained about strong language in the book by author Chris Crutcher. A review panel headed by Limestone County Schools Superintendent Barry Carroll reviewed the book and recommended keeping it in the libraries. The school board members voted 4-3 to ban the book.
“We can't allow students to go down our halls and say those words, and we shouldn't let them read it. That book’s got a lot of bad, bad words in it,” school board member James Shannon said, according to a quote in a Huntsville Times newspaper article on
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March 9, 2005.
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Censors
James Shannon |
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Earl Glaze |
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Bryant Moss |
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Darin Russell |
The pro-censorship board members were Shannon, Earl Glaze, Bryant Moss, and Darin Russell.
Crutcher appealed to school board members to reconsider their decision.
In an essay published by the Huntsville Times, Crutcher wrote:
“From what I have been told, the major issue is the language used by the characters in the book. Probably the most offensive scene, taken out of context, would be on page 68 and 69 where a 4-and-a-half-year-old mixed-race girl is working in a play therapy session, mirroring what her life is like living with a racist stepfather and a mother who won't protect her.
“In the course of her therapy she is taking the role of the offender, yelling out all the names that she herself endures on a daily basis. Because she is screaming the words, they are in large font, which, I assume, makes them even more offensive to those paging through the book.
“The scene read in the context of the story, I believe, is heartbreaking. It is also true. It is something I have seen played out by a real 4-and-a-half-year-old mixed race girl in that very situation. Of course some things have been changed to fit this story, and to mask it from the real event, but it is real, and it is actually milder that what I witnessed in that case, and in hundreds of others.
“Censors can make a case for zero tolerance in language. They can make the argument that since we don't allow our children to use that language in schools, we also shouldn't give them stories in which it is used. But that's an easy thing to deal with, and I've seen it done 100 times.
“Teachers bring up the offensiveness of the language and talk about why it's used to make a story real. We don't have to use the language to talk about the story in the classroom, but we can certainly talk about the raw power of any good story told in its native tongue.”
Whale Talk is the story of a group of high school students who start a swim team, though they don’t have a pool at their school. The hero of the story is T.J. Jones, who is “black. And Japanese. And white.” The plot deals with the swim team, but the story also tackles racial prejudice and tolerance.
Crutcher is a former high school teacher and many of his novels deal with high school athletes overcoming problems. His books have won numerous American Library Association awards in young adults categories; Whale Talk was listed as one of the library association’s Best Books for Young Adults in 2002.
Other Links:
Read Crutcher's open letter to Limestone County, Alabama.
Read story of nationwide censorship of Whale Talk here.
Read a Question & Answer with Crutcher about censorship here.
Chris Crutcher’s web site is www.chriscrutcher.com. His next book, Deadline, is scheduled to be released on September 1, 2007.
