They're baaack! The bookburners. This time, the target is “The Bookseller of Kabul" by Asne Seiersta

[Bozita]

http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2008/12/19/news/doc494c00f4a42cb315874740.txt

WYANDOTTE: Officials seek to ban book in school district
Friday, December 19, 2008 3:15 PM EST
By Jim Kasuba

WYANDOTTE, MI — A book assigned to an 11th–grade honors English class has ignited a powder keg of controversy.

“The Bookseller of Kabul,” an international best seller written by Norwegian journalist Asne Seierstad, has been temporarily banned in Wyandotte Public Schools until a decision is made on whether it is appropriate for high school readers.

The action was taken Tuesday at a Board of Education meeting after almost two hours of debate over the merits of the book and its possible negative effects on impressionable minds.

The nonfiction book is about a bookseller, Shah Muhammad Rais, and his family in Afghanistan.

The author entered Afghanistan two weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States and followed the Northern Alliance into Kabul, where she spent three months. She disguised herself by wearing a burqa — the all-covering dress worn by women in Afghanistan — and lived with a bookseller and his family in Kabul, which gave her an opportu-nity to describe the life of ordinary Afghan citizens.

The author focuses on the conditions of Afghan women, who live under the domination of men, and delves into the traditions that allow for bigamy and arranged marriages.

more...

[QueenOfCalifornia]

1. You sure

wouldn't want 15 and 16 year old kids to understand another culture. It could be dangerous if they see them as HUMAN.

[MineralMan]

2. Well, you wouldn't want those schoolgirls to learn

about the plans the dominionists have for them not that far down the road. :sarcasm:

[jgraz]

3. Is it too late for Obama to invite them to the inauguration?

[madmom]

4. It has been my experience that kids in an honors english class are usually a little more

mature as far as reading material than the average. My daughter was in honors english and some of the stuff they read was way over the head of her other classmates.

[Gwendolyn]

5. Huh? Why do you say book burners?

The book is highly negative in its depiction of life in Afghanistan, is filled with repulsive scenes of father Kahn behaving in the worst misogynist fashion towards his wives. There's a bestiality scene, prostitution, an honor killing along with other sad and not particularly uplifting commentary about life in Afghanistan.

In fact, the Khan family are suing the journalist. She was hugely denounced by muslim communities when the book was released. It remains somewhat controversial, depending on who you talk to.

It sounds from the article that the people engaged in the discussion are open-minded and simply concerned about some of the more graphic, potentially pornographic aspects of the book. While that might be conservative, (and kids will find a way to read what they want to anyway) they do seem to be conscientious in trying to do the right thing. That's hardly a bunch of fundies screaming for a book burning.

[Bozita]

6. from the article ...

"School board Trustee Jerry Kupser originally proposed donating copies of the book to Bacon Memorial District Library. If the library declined the donation, under his proposed resolution the books would have been destroyed."