The decision to retain the Judy Blume novel overrules the recommendation, made by a district-level materials-review committee and the superintendent of schools, to remove it from elementary schools. “I can’t see denying its availability if some parents decide it’s okay for their child to read,” school board Vice-Chairman Jim Malcolm said in the February 19 St. Petersburg Times. “Some people are offended by the content. Others aren’t. I will defer to individual parent choice for their child.”
Deenie, which chronicles the life of a 7th-grade girl dealing with curvature of the spine, includes two passages depicting the title character masturbating, to which Jerri Trammell objected. “What she read isn’t bad,” Trammell said in the October 14 Times of her daughter’s exposure to the book, adding, “I just don’t want her to learn about it from Judy Blume.”
The challenge process was further complicated by the Times filing suit to make the review-committee deliberations public. Florida Circuit Judge Jack Springstead ruled in favor of the newspaper, and the committee held its deliberations publicly January 28. The school board is expected to review the district’s guidelines for handling material reconsiderations to avoid future litigation.
Posted February 27, 2004.