Cout Upholds School Library Ban on Book about Cuba 

Few people would argue that there should be absolutely no censorship in school libraries. Obviously most people wouldn't want pornographic material, and many would not want graphic violence depicted in books accessed by young children. This case, however, is about a book that has been banned for avoiding unpleasant and adult topics. I haven't read the book in question, indeed the news story doesn't even mention its title, so I don't know just how biased and deceptive it might be. Children's books about other countries often avoid unpleasantness. Achildren's book about Ireland might avoid discussing the "troubles." A children's book about Rwanda might avoid certain alleged events of the 1990s. A children's book about Germany might avoid certain alleged events of the 1930s and 1940s. It does, however, seem to be very different with books about Cuba.  There apparently a certain amount of unpleasantness is required by the authorities.

Of course one should remember that if reading material accessible to children is required to be completely unbiased, quite a lot of materials will have to be banned, including most newspapers and magazines (particularly the Arizona Republic, from which this story originates, page A2, Sunday 8 February 2009).  Just about every publication has an agenda of some sort. This is a fact of life
children simply have to learn.

--Kevin Walsh

COURT: MIAMI SCHOOL DISTRICT CAN BAN BOOK ABOUT CUBA

Miami--School officials can remove from library shelves a book about Cuba thatdepicts smiling children in communist uniforms but avoids mention of problems in that country, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. The court said the Miami-Dade County School District wouldn't be infringing freedom-of-speech rights.