A mother in Nebraska is upset with his son’s school library for carrying a “Spider-Man” graphic novel that she deems “too sexy” for her six-year-old son to read.
Physha Svendsen of Millard, Nebraska said her son brought home a graphic novel of the famous wall-crawler that included some material she found to racy for the elementary school library. Svendsen is protesting, asking the book be removed from the library.
“It has a lot of sexual undertones in here, as far as sexuality goes,” she told a local television station. “They can learn this through any other place, but it’s not something I allow them to learn, in my house at least.”
The graphic novel is question is a collection of “Spider-Man” comics purchased by the school library. Svendsen told the news station she questions the literary value of comic books.
Svendesen didn’t elaborate on the book’s literary elements that she found sexually inappropriate. Some illustrations in the book showed a female character wearing a bikini and a short skirt.
” I think having it in your school, you’re still accountable for what’s in there,” she said.
Donna Helvering is the head librarian for the district and said each book that lands on Millard library shelves goes through a thorough selection process.
“We look at books, as far as age-appropriateness, we look at books for readability and we make sure that we’re buying books that are appropriate for all our kids,” Helvering said.
She said times and opinions can change, and she welcomes the complaints.
“We know that we’re not always perfect and we always ask parents for their partnership and their contributions to what we purchase in our libraries,” Helvering said.
She said that parents can file complaints about library books and the school is required to form a committee to evaluate the complaint within 30 days.
The committee will reach a consensus about whether to keep the book on the shelves of that library.
Svendsen said she plans to hold on to the book that her son brought home while the review process takes place.
And no, we don’t know the title of the graphic novel in question….
Svendsen: “Don’t be Sexy!”
Spidey: “Come see the ignorance inherent in the system!”
Svendsen: “Ban you!”
Spidey: “Help, Help! I’m being repressed! You see her repressing me, don’t you?”
Svendsen: “I’ll get you my sexy, and you’re little comics, too!”
Oh no! A short skirt and a bikini! Why, that sounds like clothes you could see walking down any street in America in the summer.
Could lead to dancing!
Just a guess here, but I would presume they don’t have a TV in their house either.
I really don’t like to ban books but this is a school library and her son is only six years old. I know I wouldn’t want my kids reading something that isn’t appropriate for them at their age but this does seem a little over the top. Now if it was say a Watchmen or a Hellblazer graphic novel I would back a ban for a middle school library 100% but skirts and bikinis aren’t exactly going to rot his mind or force him to lose his innocence.
I would like to say that there were definitely books in my high school library that really shouldn’t have been allowed and were more than just innuendo but very graphic.