Where The Heart Is Stays on the Shelf
in Wyoming
A Natrona County (Wyo.) School District committee has decided that Where The Heart Is by Billie Letts will not be removed from the shelves of the middle and high school libraries, the Associated Press reported June 13. Complainant Mark Westby, the father of a 7th-grader, had challenged its graphic violence, obscene language, and depictions of drug use. “As our kids are being bombarded with these things, they are influenced by them,” Westby wrote to the district.
The book deals with a 17-year-old girl who is pregnant and abandoned by her boyfriend in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Oklahoma. The girl lives in the store, gives birth there, and is eventually taken in by the community where the store is located. Westby told the AP that he and his wife grew concerned after their daughter asked what the word “fornication” meant, saying she had read it in the book.
“The underlying theme of this title appears to be that of choices and of making good choices,” the committee of eight teachers, administrators, librarians, clergy, parents, and community members wrote in their evaluation. “While negative images do exist within the context of the book, they are depicted in a negative light. Topics such as drug abuse and abandonment become central to the actions in the novel—however, the main character struggles to overcome these and to become a survivor.”
Posted June 17, 2002.
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