The controversy began in January, when Carlson’s father Maynard read the book with his grandson and took offense at the story’s use of the words “fart” and “farting” 24 times. “The graphics in this thing kind of make you sick, too,” he said at the board’s January 13 meeting, at which he asked that it be removed but declined to file a reconsideration request.
Richard Carlson has the option of appealing to the school board, where he may gain a more sympathetic ear: Board President Greg Bergh went on record in January in support of Maynard Carlson bypassing the district’s reconsideration policy since, Bergh observed, selection criteria “did not work properly when the book was made a part of the elementary library.”
Posted February 27, 2004.