Banned Book, 'Waterland,' Set for Hearing — As Is 'Beloved'

Jeremy Hughes has changed his mind about from 's advanced-placement English class based on one parent's complaint.

Hughes, Plymouth-Canton Community Schools' interim superintendent, released a written statement Thursday saying "my decision to remove the book without instituting the complaint-and-review processes provided for in our district’s Administrative Guidelines" from the community.

Hughes said an outpouring of comments from the community convinced him that the district's process should be followed.

"As a former high school English and Latin teacher, I am certainly aware that much of modern literature contains sexual material. It was my judgment, however, that the passages I read from Waterland had crossed the line in terms of graphic portrayal of sexual activity," he wrote. "Although it has been argued that I took action solely on the complaint of one parent, it was my judgment at the time that the majority of parents in Plymouth-Canton would have a similar objection if they read what I read."

In mid-December, Hughes removed Waterland from the advanced-placement English class taught at Salem by Gretchen Miller. The class uses college-level material and most students go on to receive college credits for the course, Miller said. Since Hughes' initial decision, Miller has used excerpts from various books to teach the post-modern narrative structure; how literature explores such themes as trauma and forms of literary criticism.

Review committee plans

The district's review process requires a committee to hear from the parent who complained as well as a representative of the study area affected, in this case the English department. The committee will be comprised of parents; a public librarian; teachers (not involved in the challenge); Bill Zolkowski, the lead administrator for Plymouth-Canton Educational Park (the district's three-high-school campus); and director of secondary education, Erin MacGregor.

Rugerrilo said the committee will hear statement from each side of the issue, then discuss options before making a decision. The people involved in challenging and defending the books will not be present for the discussion portion of the meeting, he said. The meeting is otherwise public.

The committee's hearing is scheduled to start on Jan. 11, but district spokesman Frank Ruggirello Jr. said Thursday details are still being finalized.

The Plymouth-Canton's review committee finishes its work by recommending whether Waterland and Beloved should remain on Salem's AP English reading list.

, written by celebrated British novelist Graham Swift, is considered a modern classic by critics; the book is used in literature classes throughout Britain. Waterland tells the story of a history teacher who, faced with the imminent loss of his job just as a past event culminates in his wife's mental breakdown, argues for the recognition that history informs the present. The novel contains adult themes, including at least one graphic sex act.

Beloved also challenged

The Waterland review will also address Toni Morrison's 1987 award-winning novel, Beloved. The same parent — who has not been identified by district officials, other than as a student's father — has complained about both books.

Like Swift, Morrison's work has been compared to William Faulkner's. Beloved tells of a woman who escapes a plantation and murders one of her children rather than return to a life of slavery. The infant's death haunts the former slave and others in her household. Morrison's books address race, class, social mores and moral issues, as well as the effects of the past on the present and future — just as the works of Swift and Faulkner, stories in the Bible and tales from Greek and Roman mythology do, though each take different avenues in approaching the topics.

Morrison received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. Beloved received the American Book Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Race Relations, the Frederic G. Melcher Book Award and the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. A comment she made in accepting the Melcher award — that “there is no suitable memorial or plaque or wreath or wall or park or skyscraper lobby” to remind people of those who were kidnapped, forced onto U.S.-bound boats and into a life of slavery — led a group founded in her name, the Toni Morrison Society, to install benches at key U.S. sites connected to this county's history of slavery.

Hughes' note stated he has the "intention to accept the recommendation of the review committee" on whether the books will remain part of the Park's AP English program or not.