Every year, without fail...
...there's a a book challenged during Banned Books Week.
This year, it's Bret Lott's The Hunt Club.
It's included as one of the eight options on Wando High School's summer reading list for incoming juniors: Students are required to read one of the eight books on the list.
I'm going to repeat that: The book is NOT required reading.
An informal committee read the book and recommended that it stay on the list: The challengers appealed.
A formal challenge committee reviewed the book and recommended that it stay on the list; The challengers appealed.
Now, the county School Board is now going to hold a hearing to decided whether or not it'll even stay on the library shelf. I'm not sure why the library holdings are suddenly in question: The couple who objects to the book's inclusion on the list haven't asked for it to be removed from the library, just from the list.
Regardless, the district's coordinator of media services hit the nail on the head (at least in terms of my take on the situation) with this quote, "What makes this different is if this book is removed … it's taking away another parent's right to determine appropriate reading material for their student."
Bret Lott himself plans to attend the meeting: "I don't know what motivates this kind of reaction except a kind of Victorian sensibility, and I say that as a believing Christian and Sunday school teacher. How do you shield children from racism? Virtue is not virtue unless it is made vulnerable and put to the test in confronting these things."