CONTROVERSY: A Riverside Unified School District committee voted to remove “The Fault in Our Stars” from a middle school library, evoking national interest.
By Emily Hughes, Staff Writer
Recently, John Green’s famous young adult novel, “The Fault in Our Stars,” was removed from a Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) middle school library. The incident was featured on People Magazine’s webpage, Local 12 news and even John Green’s Tumblr. The decision upset young Riverside readers and calmed local parents’ nerves, but it has also inspired national attention.
On September 21, a committee composed of RUSD educators, as well as parents and grandparents, voted on this removal after a parent whose children attend Franklin Augustus Miller Middle School made a formal complaint about the book. The parent believed that the book was inappropriate for middle school students, and she asked for it to be removed from her children’s school or at least regulated to require parental permission to be checked out. The committee voted in a 6-1 decision to remove “The Fault in Our Stars” from the middle school’s library. The four copies of the book were taken from Miller Middle School and were not transferred to other schools.
According to RUSD superintendent Dr. David Hansen, a “well-intentioned individual” casually donated the copies to the middle school. The books were inadvertently donated without undergoing the typical review process. Because of this and because The New York Times deemed the book inappropriate for children under age 14, the books were removed from the middle school library.
Jennifer Higgins, a humanities teacher at the Riverside STEM Academy, was a part of the RUSD committee that removed the novel and participated in voting. “I imagine many students, as we all agreed on the committee, are capable of reading the book. Students may have the book checked out from a public library, personally purchase[ed] or borrowed from a parent or friend,” she stated. Higgins mentioned, however, that it is up to the parents to decide whether or not the book is appropriate for their child.
The removal of “The Fault in Our Stars” from RUSD middle schools coincided with Banned Books Week, a week that brings awareness to banned books across the country. Because of this, the story has been featured all over social media sites. John Green, the author of the removed book, even caught wind of the removal. In a recent Tumblr post, Green explained his view of the event, first stating, “I guess I am both happy and sad.” Green explained that he was “happy because apparently young people in Riverside, California, will never witness or experience mortality since they won’t be reading my book, which is great for them.” He also stated, “But I am also sad because I was really hoping I would be able to introduce the idea that human beings die to the children of Riverside, California, and thereby crush their dreams of immortality.”
On October 6, the RUSD Board of Education spoke on this removal in an open meeting. The controversial removal of this book will actually inspire a review and revision of the 34-year-old policy that allowed it to take place. However, the initial banning still triggered complaints from Riverside citizens.
The Banned Books Week coordinator in Riverside is Krista Ivy, a librarian for the University of California, Riverside. Ivy did not agree with the removal of the book from middle school libraries. “No matter what their intentions, [committee members are] preventing access to a book. It is the library’s role to provide intellectual and physical access to resources that provide a wide range of abilities and differing points of view,” she said. According to Ivy, the role of a librarian is to provide books, not take them away.
Students, teachers and parents in RUSD also reacted to this news, including Poly staff and students. Kimberly Yeyna, the Poly English Department Chair, stated that, “[p]arents have the right to monitor what their own child is exposed to, but removing a book from a library shelf so that no child has access to it is not something that should be decided expeditiously.” Yeyna also spoke of her wish for students and teachers to have the ability to defend books that may be removed in the future, such as on a forum. “It is time for all students to ‘speak up,’” Yeyna said.
Poly student Kristen White (11) also disagreed with the removal of “The Fault in Our Stars.” White commented that many of the students had probably already seen the movie and that students “will experience [mortality] sometime.” Makaylla Rodgers (10), another avid Poly reader, agreed. “There are books in the library that are a lot more explicit,” Rodgers said and then added, “One of the other reasons that they banned it was because it deals with the fact that people die, but once you’re in middle school, you know that you’re going to die one day.”
The Press Enterprise article on this removal entitled, “RIVERSIDE: ‘Fault in Our Stars’ banned from middle school” received a national response. Comments on the article originate from places like Washington, and many of the details from the article are on other websites, such as people.com.
This incident is not unique; books that raise controversial questions or are sexually explicit (as well as other things) are consistently banned around the country. In Dallas, Texas, seven books were temporarily banned from the school system in the past month. In Rancho Cucamonga, a book was recently removed from a middle school library without going through a review process, and this elimination of “The Fault in Our Stars” from RUSD middle schools caused a disturbance like no other. However, even with the bad publicity that some say Riverside has received, this controversy has provided the opportunity to change age-old policies in order to keep up with today’s pace.