Wisconsin School District Retains
Junie B. Jones, Black Lagoon Books
Students of the Hamilton School District in Lisbon, Wisconsin, will continue to have access to the popular Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park and the Black Lagoon series by Mike Thaler, a reconsideration committee decided December 15. The unanimous vote assures that the books will stay on the shelves until at least 2003, since district policy prohibits the same titles from being reconsidered more often than every four years.
Lannon Elementary School parent Tonya Stadler had contended that the books model disrespect for parents and teachers, according to the December 15 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She objected to kindergartener Junie B. calling characters “morons” and “stupid” and to a Black Lagoon story about a boy decapitating a teacher with a spitball.
Conceding that the materials “could be shocking,” Reconsideration Committee member Eric Weckwerth said the books also provided “teachable moments.”
Vowing to appeal to the school board, Stadler argued, “Just because kids like these books, should we allow them to read them?”
Posted December 20, 1999.
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