Jun 19, 2009 3:49 pm US/Eastern
NH School Pulls Hemingway, King From Reading List
Assigned Stories Addressed Homosexuality, Drugs, Abortion
LITCHFIELD, N.H. (WBZ) ―
Stories by satirist David Sedaris, crime author Laura Lippman, horror novelist Stephen King and writer Ernest Hemingway were pulled from a New Hampshire school's curriculum after
parents complained children shouldn't be exposed to what they view as objectionable subject matter.
Litchfield's Campbell High School principal, Bob Manseau, says he removed the teacher-chosen stories from an assigned reading list, deciding the material wasn't age-appropriate.
Lippman's "The Crack Cocaine Diet" includes explicit sexual language. King's "Survivor Type" features a surgeon stranded on a deserted island who amputates his limbs for food. Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants," is about a couple's debate over abortion, although the word "abortion" isn't in the text. Parents objected to Sedaris' "I Like Guys" because they don't want their children learning about homosexuality in school.
The protest started when one parent found the stories in her son's backpack. According to the Union Leader, the short stories were in a textbook that was part of a Love/Gender/Family unit.
It is school policy to inform parents when their children have been assigned sexually explicit material. That apparently did not happen in this case.
The school board is reviewing the case.
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(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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