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Proposed Book Ban Prompts Reading

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 2, 2008

BRANDON - Residents can judge for themselves whether a New York Times best-seller under challenge in the Hillsborough County school system is too intense for teens.

The Alley Cat Players, a nonprofit professional acting troupe from Tampa, will give dramatic readings from Sarah Dessen's book "Just Listen" at 2 p.m. today at the Brandon Regional Library, 619 Vonderburg Drive, Brandon.

"This kind of issue is right up our alley," said Jo Averill-Snell, artistic director for the Alley Cat Players. "We do performance art and read from literary works and poetry, especially roles with strong women."

Averill-Snell said the troupe's interest was sparked when it learned the school system was challenging Dessen's book, which is a Junior Library Guild selection and is on the Florida Teens Read list.

Dessen, 37, has written seven books directed toward teens and young adults, including two that were the basis for the 2003 movie "How to Deal" starring Mandy Moore. "Just Listen" was released in April 2006.

After finding the book in her 15-year-old daughter's backpack, Armwood High School parent Milisa Burt asked the county school board at its meeting Dec. 11 to review whether "Just Listen" is appropriate for high school libraries.

The board agreed to have school libraries mark their copies of the book "for mature readers" while a committee of parents, teachers and students at Armwood review the book. The committee will present its assessment to the Hillsborough County School District, which may or may not accept the committee's recommendation.

The last time a book was challenged at the district level was in 2002. The district decided that "The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers" should be accessible only as a reference book available through teachers.

In the case of "Just Listen," Burt told the school board the book's graphic description of an attempted rape disturbed her.

Averill-Snell points out that those few paragraphs constitute a minor part of the book and should not be a reason for banning it from school libraries.

She said she was surprised by reaction expressed by TBO .com users after an article about Burt's request was posted on the Web site and published in The Tampa Tribune on Dec. 13.

"When I read some of the comments parents made, I realized many hadn't even read the book. They just assumed it must be bad," she said. "We're trying to add to the community conversation about this book and encourage parents and other interested parties to actually read it. And we want to provide a forum for those who are already familiar with the book to express their thoughts."

Averill-Snell said the main characters in the book go through experiences that lead them to put more trust in their families and make better choices when choosing friends.

"The book models behaviors any of us would want for our own children," she said. "And, by telling teen girls that they shouldn't read about an attempted rape, you're sending them the message that they shouldn't talk about rape, that they should hide it. That's just the opposite of what we want them to do."

Averill-Snell said actors will read the controversial passages and other excerpts of the book at the library. The troupe will play some of the alternative music favored by one of the book's main characters, Owen. The audience will be encouraged to create hand-drawn postcards and write comments with the help of local artists.

"We will create a digital art display of the attendees' art and comment on our Web site at www.alleycatplayers.org. Two $25 gift certificates to a bookstore will be awarded to the creator of the most striking artwork and the most persuasive text," she said.

Averill-Snell said she hopes parents will bring their teens to the presentation.

"Parents will have a broader idea of what's going on and they can discuss it with their teens," she said.

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524 or dlwhite@tampatrib.com.

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