Huh...

[shipperx]

Anyone know what that might be? I don't remember anything particularly explicit in Neverwhere. Some scary bits, but there are scary bits in a LOT of YA fiction. I certainly don't remember anything as scary in Neverwhere as having MAIN CHARACTERS' heads cut off and carried around on other characters belts as happened in the sequel to the Mutiny on the Bounty, as I was required to read (and was traumatized by) in school. And could anything be more depressing than the ending of 1984 (which was also required reading)?

From EW.com:

A New Mexico school district temporarily removed Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere from library shelves after a local mother complained the book — which is required reading at the high school — had mature content. [KASA Fox]

Comments

[jerusha]

Who knows? I haven't read Neverwhere yet, but I know that Eleanor & Park was pulled from some school libraries in Michigan for some unknown reason.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

The only thing that comes to mind is that one or two characters are hinted - only hinted, mind - to be gay. That might just be enough in some people's mind... :/

Either that, or the way it treats religion.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Either that, or the way it treats religion

Good Omens must make people's heads explode then.

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

This was all over Gaiman's twitter timeline, and it's been established that the complaining mother is "that sort of parent" (she brought TV news cameras with her to the school when she demanded that the book be removed from the reading list) and that the school librarian and many parents were fighting against the stupidity. Unfortunately, it seems that the school administration has no cojones and the last thing I read about this is that they've continued to capitulate to this idiotic woman.

The complaining mother also said, rather proudly, that she "didn't have time to read a 400-page book because that's the school's responsibility" but that she "knew it was inappropriate for teens."

A few disgusted students from the school read it anyway and stated that they didn't know what all the fuss is about. The crusading mother is obviously a famewhore and a self-proclaimed arbiter of all that is good, moral and holy. Stupid situation all around.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Seriously.

I read the book (ages ago) and my response was --blankface...??? "Was there something I'm totally forgetting in the book...???" Because I honestly remembered nothing offensive. The book seemed quite PG to me.

[shapinglight]

I haven't read the book, only seen the TV series, so I'm clueless.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Never seen the show. They want too much for the DVDs.

[molly_may]

According to the Comic Book League Defense Fund (Gaiman does a lot of work for them), the offending passage is this one:

A late-night couple, who had been slowly walking along the Embankment toward them, holding hands, sat down in the middle of the bench, between Richard and Anaesthesia, and commenced to kiss each other, passionately. “Excuse me,” said Richard to them. The man had his hand inside the woman’s sweater and was moving it around enthusiastically, a lone traveler discovering an unexplored continent. “I want my life back,” Richard told the couple.

“I love you,” said the man to the woman.

“But your wife–” she said, licking the side of his face.

“Fuck her,” said the man.

“Don’ wanna fuck her,” said the woman, and she giggled, drunkenly. “Wanna fuck you….” She put a hand on his crotch and giggled some more.

Because, as you know, fifteen year olds have never heard the word "fuck" before, and are too innocent to read about a little groping.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Oh no! People make-out!

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I read all of it yesterday on Gaiman's twitterfeed -- OMG, the drama.

Basically what queenofattolia said. :P

[typographer.livejournal.com]

I was reading an article someone linked to during Banned Books Week, and I recall a statistic about a significant number of people who challenge books have never read the book they're trying to get banned, and making at least some claim about the reading comprehension skills (though I think that was more anecdotal).

And people decide all sorts of things are too explicit, too liberal, too questioning of authority, et cetera for their children to be exposed to.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Easy to believe that they don't read it or properly digest it. By and large this sort of reaction comes from people who are uncomfortable with new things or different ideas.

The sad thing is, these also tend to be people who say they believe the Bible "literally" and don't read or understand it (or its context) very well either.