American Library Association | Search ALA | Contact ALA | Give ALA | Join ALA | ALA FAQ | ALA Login

American Libraries



Site Navigation







Left Sidebar Items

Fairfax School Board Votes to Keep Alice

The Fairfax County, Virginia, school board voted December 20 to retain The Agony of Alice in school libraries after parents Mary and Kurt Maggio asked the board to overturn a review committee’s recommendation.

The book, written by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, targets girls aged 11 to 13 and deals with a girl undergoing puberty without a mother. Mary Maggio said she became concerned about the book when her daughter, now in 6th grade, asked questions about menstruation after being assigned the book. “It was crudely written. I didn’t like the tone of the book and the sarcasm,” Maggio said in the December 21 Alexandria Journal.

The board upheld the committee’s recommendation that the book should not be assigned reading for 5th graders and that it should be limited to small discussion groups for girls only. It will continue to be available for classroom use in the anthology Between Times which contains three chapters of the book.

Posted December 27, 1999.

Right Sidebar

AL Joblist
AL Store