Banned Young Adult Novel Back In One South Jersey School
by David Madden
LUMBERTON TOWNSHIP, NJ (CBS) -- A Burlington County school district has returned a popular young adult novel to bookshelves, after the Superintendent banned it last week in response to complaints from a parent.
"Looking for Alaska", the first work of author John Green, was questioned for its sexual content during a meeting of the Lumberton Township School Board. Superintendent Joseph Langowski cited policy in pulling the novel from classrooms in the Middle School and ordering a review last week.
He later was informed of a second policy, which prompted the book's return.
"The book is permanently back in classrooms until or unless a parent makes a formal written complaint," district spokesperson Betsy Kapulskey told KYW Newsradio. Once the complaint is filed, an official review is conducted by the district and the school board makes the final decision.
The book has been available for about a decade and is in the process of being made into a movie, which Kapulskey suggests is one reason the kids want to read it. It has never been part of Lumberton's official curriculum.
