November 23, 2004

Book sale canceled at Lincoln

By Bill Choy
Ashland Daily Tidings

Strong language and sexual situations found in a creative non-fiction book of stories on the trials and tribulations of raising young children has caused Lincoln Elementary School officials to decide not to have the book sold at a school function.

Jennifer Margulis, a Lincoln parent of a kindergartner, is the editor and had two stories in the anthology book "Toddler: Real-life Stories of Those Fickle, Irrational, Urgent, Tiny People We Love," and planned to sell autographed copies of the book at a parents luncheon at the school today. She had planed to donate all the proceeds to the school.

Margulis said she was first told on Monday morning by Lincoln Elementary Principal Susan Hollandsworth that because of strong language, Superintendent Juli Di Chiro recommended there should be a disclaimer, which she agreed to. A few hours later, Margulis said, Hollandsworth called again and said after talking to parents and others, they decided the book was inappropriate to sell at the school. She said they agreed to have the book at the event last week.

Margulis contends this is censorship and that the book is intended for adults, while school officials maintain even if it's not designed for children, that it's inappropriate to sell the book at a school function.

The main offending material is in the story "Slow to Warm" by Brett Paesel, which had a brief passage of the author fantasizing sexually in her thoughts, with graphic language used, Hollandsworth said.

Another concern was the use of the "F-word" in another story and other swear words throughout the book.

Hollandsworth said when she talked to Margulis Monday morning, she had only read some of the offending passages and not the sexually graphic section.

After reading that passage, she said she consulted will seven faculty members, three parents, a fellow principal, and Di Chiro, who all agreed it was inappropriate to sell the book at the lunch.

"We don't think it's censorship," Hollandsworth said. "We're not telling parents not to buy it. I just don't think it's appropriate for a school-based sale because of the content. Parents have a choice to go to a bookstore and buy anything they want."

Marylee Oddo, Lincoln Parent Teacher Organization president agreed that school was not the place to sell the book.

"We're an elementary school," she said. "We're not saying whether the book has literary value, it's just inappropriate for a school to sell. It's just not a good fit."

To Margulis, the book is so much more than the offending words, which she believed were being taken out of context. The book won the Independent Publishers 2004 Book Award in the parenting category.

"It's so important for society to see and hear about all the experiences of parenting," Margulis said. "Now they want to censor the book. It's a collection of literary stories. ... If you have a problem with it, don't buy the book."

Margulis said she stands by the story "Slow to Warm." She said it's a humorous, well-written story that showed the authors ambivalence to other parents expectations.

"Parents aren't perfect," she said, "and we sometimes say or think of things we don't want to say. ... Remember Walt Whitman? Lots of great writers use strong language."

Lisa Johnson, a parent of a child at Helman Elementary, is an employee at Tree House Books on the Plaza, which sells the book. She said it has been selling steadily and said she liked it.

"It was reality based," she said. "Parents don't usually get to read about real issues and decisions of parenthood."

Johnson said she felt it was unfair that the school will not sell the book and that it's not meant for children, but adults.

Margulis, the mother of three children from 1 to 5 years old, and her husband, moved to Ashland from Massachusetts three months ago.

Despite what has happened, Margulis plans to sell the books to parents, or any interested community members and still donate all the money to Lincoln Elementary.