WILSONA AXES 'HARRY POTTER' WIZARD, CLIFFORD NOT 'IN LINE' WITH CHARACTER GOALS.Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer LAKE LOS ANGELES Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. - Twenty-three books including the latest ``Harry Potter'' were removed by Wilsona School District trustees from a list recommended by a parent-teacher committee for the Vista San Gabriel San Gabriel (săn gā`brēəl), city (1990 pop. 37,120), Los Angeles co., SW Calif.; inc. 1913. Fabric, furniture, paper products, tools, and aircraft parts are manufactured. Elementary School elementary school: see school. library. Trustees said one rejected book contained an unsavory hero who made a bad role model for children; another was about a warlock, which they said was inappropriate; and others were books with which they were unfamiliar and didn't know whether they promoted good character or conflicted with textbooks. ``There were several of the books on there that board members felt were not appropriate for the children,'' board President Sharon Toyne said. ``I think basically because for the last eight or nine years, we've been pushing character education in our school district. There are so many issues changing in the society we are living in. With this ever-changing society, we have to just stick back to the traditional thing of what kids are supposed to be learning.'' The board voted unanimously at Thursday's meeting to remove the 23 books from a list of 68 that had been forwarded for board approval to place on the shelves of the Vista San Gabriel school library. Rejected titles included three bilingual bi·lin·gual adj. 1. a. Using or able to use two languages, especially with equal or nearly equal fluency. b. Clifford the Big Red Dog books, ``Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,'' ``Disney's Christmas Storybook sto·ry·book n. A book containing a collection of stories, usually for children. adj. Occurring in or resembling the style or content of a storybook: storybook characters; a storybook romance. ,'' and two books from the Artemis Fowl series, whose namesake name·sake n. One that is named after another. [From the phrase for the name's sake.] namesake Noun character was described in reviews as a boy-genius anti-hero anti-hero, principal character of a modern literary or dramatic work who lacks the attributes of the traditional protagonist or hero. The anti-hero's lack of courage, honesty, or grace, his weaknesses and confusion, often reflect modern man's ambivalence toward and criminal mastermind. Toyne wouldn't comment on what was objectionable about the latest of the ``Harry Potter'' series, which has proved wildly popular in print and on screen but from its inception has drawn criticism that it promotes what predominantly pre·dom·i·nant adj. 1. Having greatest ascendancy, importance, influence, authority, or force. See Synonyms at dominant. 2. Christian critics term ``occultism occultism (əkŭl`tĭzəm), belief in supernatural sciences or powers, such as magic, astrology, alchemy, theosophy, and spiritism, either for the purpose of enlarging man's powers, of protecting him from evil forces, or of predicting ,'' using supernatural Supernatural Twilight Zone, The tales of weird events involving ordinary people. [Am. Radio, TV, & Cinema: The Twilight Zone in Terrace] means not from the divinity to acquire personal power. Trustee Marlene Olivarez, a teacher who retired from the district two years ago, said the latest ``Harry Potter'' installment was rejected because it is fantasy. ``We want books to be things that children would be able to relate to in real life,'' she said. The board rejection upset some parents and surprised school officials. ``If they read these books, they would see these are the books the kids are interested in,'' said parent Sheri Jurovich, who works for Wilsona as a dispatcher Software that determines what pending tasks should be done next and assigns the available resources to accomplish it. It may execute other programs or generate a list for human operators to follow. See scheduler. and bus driver and has a child at Challenger Middle School. ``If they take away the ones the kids are interested in, (the kids) are not going to read the books they are offering. It's important for my child to read something they are interested in that makes them want to read.'' Danielle Sweeney, a parent of two children at Vista San Gabriel, served on the book committee and read four of the rejected books. She thinks the board's rejection was inappropriate. ``I'm not happy because I approved some of the books - 'Beauty is a Beast,' the Rapunzel book, all the 'princess' books,'' Sweeney said. ``I don't understand why they don't think they are appropriate. I read them with my fifth-grade daughter and didn't find anything inappropriate to read with her.'' Of the Potter, Artemis Fowl and ``princess'' books, Sweeney said, ``The fifth-graders, that's all they're into. They can't afford $30 books. They will lose interest in reading and lose interest in academics.'' Sweeney said she understands that some parents don't like the ``magic and witchery'' of Potter, but felt that they could work with the librarian to ensure that their children are not allowed to check those books out. Besides rejecting the books, the board directed Superintendent Ned McNabb to develop library book-selection guidelines guidelines, n.pl a set of standards, criteria, or specifications to be used or followed in the performance of certain tasks. . ``What's hard is to get everyone to agree on which ones those are,'' McNabb said. ``The committee in good faith recommended 60-some books. The board feels that a number of those books are not appropriate. They are not seeing things Seeing Things may refer to:
Trustee Patricia Greene said the guidelines would be something against which school committee members can evaluate books for stocking in school libraries. ``Right now it's the opinion of the person reading the books. Opinions vary between me and the person who read the book,'' Greene said. ``I don't want it based on opinions anymore. I want it based on something concrete that we can look at, whether it promotes character education. The books need to be educational and uphold up·hold tr.v. up·held , up·hold·ing, up·holds 1. To hold aloft; raise: upheld the banner proudly. 2. To prevent from falling or sinking; support. 3. the district's standards.'' Trustees feel accountable for what books they put in children's hands, Olivarez said. ``We want these books to support the curriculum, build character, give kids enjoyment, and encourage reading. Right now we're doing it by the seat of our pants,'' she said. Vista San Gabriel librarian Jackie Livingstone said she believes that youngsters should be given a variety of reading choices. This was the first time the board rejected books in the five years she has been librarian, Livingstone said. ``I personally do not necessarily approve of removing books, which are selections for children to read, because it is good to present children with a very diverse selection because each child is not going to want to read the same thing,'' Livingstone said. Principal Terri Grey said she was surprised at the number of books removed from the list. The books had been read to make sure they were appropriate for the grade levels at Vista San Gabriel, she said. ``I'm rather shocked, shocked in the sense that if there were certain titles that they read, I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. that all the titles were read,'' she said. Olivarez, Greene and Toyne said children can read the books on their own. ``If a parent wants their child to read it, they have that right. It is our right as school board members to reject books. We have a right to develop guidelines and choose what we want our students to learn,'' Toyne said. ``Kids identify with a personality in a book, and I think characters do not need to be negative characters.'' Some of the books appear to be innocuous in·noc·u·ous adj. Having no adverse effect; harmless. innocuous (i·näˈ·kyōō· , such as the Clifford books, and one titled ``Welcome to the USA California,'' which school officials said was part of a series about the 50 states. Livingstone said other Harry Potter books are in the library, but Greene said the board had not approved them. Olivarez thinks the Clifford books were removed by mistake, but Greene said she was not familiar with the content of the Clifford and Disney books. ``I don't know if it's upholding 'Character Counts.' I want to be sure its promoting what we are upholding. I approved books that I'm familiar with the content,'' Greene said. As for the California book, Greene said, ``I'm not sure it's upholding what's contained in history books. I want to make sure they are in line with our standards.'' One of the books struck from the list was called, ``The Eye of the Warlock.'' The school committee member who read it reported: ``A very fractured Fractured is the Industrial Music band created by Canadian Nick Gorman in 2003. Located in Toronto Canada, his self produced release CD-R demo entitled Contami-Nation caught the attention of European label Dependent Records, who signed them. version of Hansel and Gretel Hansel and Gretel fattened up for child-eating witch. [Ger. Fairy Tale: Grimm, 56] See : Cannibalism Hansel and Gretel woodcutter’s children barely escape witch. [Ger. Fairy Tale: Grimm, 56] See : Escape . The hero, Rudi, saves the day. I greatly enjoyed it.'' ``That was not something we want to present to children. We felt this would not fit in with guidelines. It's about a warlock. It's not a case to build character,'' Olivarez said. Karen Maeshiro, (661) 267-5744 karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) no caption (book: ``Harry Potter'') (2 -- color) no caption (book: ``Disney's Christmas Storybook'') |
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