Leece calls for removal of 2 books

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- School board trustee Wendy Leece asked fellow

Newport-Mesa Unified School District board members Tuesday night to

reconsider putting two award-winning books in the hands of high school

students because of the works’ “graphic sexual content.”

Leece asked that the novels “Of Love and Shadows,” by South American

author Isabel Allende, and “Snow Falling on Cedars,” by David Guterson,

be pulled from the high school textbook list before school board members

approve it.

“In this community, in this school district, do we allow students to

read literature that contains very passionate scenes that are of an adult

nature and that have sexual meaning?” Leece asked.

These are the questions, she said, that will prompt her to vote

against the use of these books, which were requested by Newport Harbor

High School English teachers for use in their junior and senior classes.

Leece added that she hopes reading the novels will prompt other board

members to do the same.

“Is it ever appropriate, for any age of our students, to read this

just because the book at some point was deemed of great literary value

and won awards?” she asked. “We live in an R-rated society. Do we bring

any of that into our classrooms?”

Allende has won numerous international writing awards, including a

1996 Critics’ Choice Award, in the U.S., and Guterson’s novel won the

1995 PEN/Faulkner Award.

While the majority of board members have not yet read the books,

school board president David Brooks said he read the novels and agrees

they are not appropriate.

“To me, it’s very simple,” Brooks said. “I did read the books, and I

think there are other things out there that make the same points without

giving such graphic depictions of the sexual type.”

Leece charges that “Of Love and Shadows” contains one adult scene and

“Snow Falling on Cedars” is rife with adult content.

At the next meeting, Feb. 13, after board members have reviewed the

novels, the board will vote on whether Newport Harbor High teachers may

use the books in class.

It is not the first time Leece has voted against the use of books or

asked that a book be removed.

In the past, she has objected to profanity and science textbook

presentations of evolution as fact instead of theory. She questioned

whether “If I Die in a Combat Zone,” by Pulitzer-Prize winner Tim

O’Brien, should be in the classroom because of violence and profanity, as

well as “Oleanna,” by playwright and screenwriter David Mamet.

Before she was elected to the board, Leece in 1993 led a group of

parents in efforts to get adult magazines put behind blinders. The Costa

Mesa City Council eventually passed an ordinance that such magazines were

required to be covered.

On Tuesday, Leece voted against “Biology: Principles and

Explorations,” which was approved by the board for Estancia High School.

QUESTION

Book review?

What standards should the Newport-Mesa Unified School District have

for classroom books? Call our Readers Hotline at (949) 642-6086 or send

e-mail to [email protected]. Please spell your name and include your

hometown and phone number, for verification purposes only.