The “Everything You Need to Know” series has been removed from a middle-school library in Cumberland County, North Carolina, following a parent’s complaint that one title was too sexually explicit for her son, the February 10 Fayetteville Observer reported.
Everything You Need to Know about AIDS and five other titles were taken off the shelves at Ireland Drive Middle School after a committee determined that the material was inappropriate for 6th-graders, who are the only students at the school. Parent Janis Hickox had told the librarian she felt the AIDS book gave her 11-year-old son explicit directions on performing oral and anal sex.
Principal Viola Fedd told the newspaper that the books were apparently ordered because they were on the list of titles included in the Accelerated Reader reading-comprehension program.
Edna Cogdell, director of media services for the county school system, said that School Library Journal had rated the series acceptable for 6th-to-9th-graders. She said officials would warn other schools to review the titles for appropriateness if they own them.
Posted February 21, 2000.