Schaye had borrowed the book, originally published in 1979, at an EPL librarian’s recommendation, attracted by the cover illustration of the Great Dane title character. However, Schaye was horrified to discover while reading the book to her preschooler that the story was about Pinkerton saving his family from a home invader, who in one drawing is shown holding a gun to the head of the mother. Seven other parents and teachers with whom Schaye subsequently shared Pinkerton, Behave! reacted similarly; they signed on to her initial request to pull all editions of the book, although not to her appeal of the reconsideration committee’s retention recommendation.
Trustees refused three possible remedies: pulling the 2002 edition of the book, moving it to another section, or overlaying the 2002 edition’s innocuous cover art with the 1979 original, which shows Pinkerton sleeping while a nearby robber brandishes a gun. Acknowledging that changing the cover “would probably not be a technologically great feat,” Director Neal Ney told American Libraries that he nonetheless “did not think this would be a good idea, because there were certainly many covers in the collection that other people might object to.” He went on to say, “The board agreed that when we buy the book, we buy the cover.”
At the May 19 meeting, several board members suggested that parents familiarize themselves with books they intend to share with their children. “People who are more conscientious than me, who are better mothers than I am, are not pre-reading the books they read to their children,” Schaye responded in the May 27 Evanston Review. Admitting that staff members were also surprised by the content of Pinkerton, Behave! Ney assured trustees that library workers were “newly sensitized.”
Ney told AL that staff believe the challenge to be the first in at least 25 years to go before the board.
Posted June 4, 2004.