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Lovely Bones to Stay on Shelf
Lovely Bones to Stay on Shelf
The Coleytown Middle School library in Westport, Connecticut, will retain Alice Sebold’s coming-of-age novel The Lovely Bones, following a recommendation by the school system’s challenged materials committee. Westport Public Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon supported the committee’s decision in a January 5 letter that acknowledged the book—narrated from heaven by a 14-year-old girl who was raped and murdered—is for “mature readers” but still appropriate for middle school students, “many of whom possess the maturity level to read this book,” the online news service Westport Now reported January 18.
The review was the result of a request by the parent of a 6th-grade girl who said it was right for an adult audience but inappropriate for middle school students.
Landon pointed out in his letter that students had requested the book and it had been mentioned favorably on “three lists used for middle school collection development.”
Posted January 19, 2007.
