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.

[shapinglight]

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

[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.

[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.