Nevermore
Artist: Neil Gaiman
Year: 2013
Date of Action: 10/10/13
Region: North America
Location: Alamogordo, New Mexico
Subject: Explicit Sexuality, Youth
Medium: Literature
Confronting Bodies: New Mexico school
Description of Artwork: Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, a story of Richard Mayhew and his trials and tribulations in London, is based off of the television series "Neverwhere", by Neil Gaiman and Lenny Henry.
The Incident: Parents of 10th grade students in an Alamogordo school in New Mexico have attempted to ban Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman due to sexual content that the parents deemed inappropriate for their 15 year old children. The book has been on district required reading lists since 2004 and has never been challenged before now.
Results of Incident: Gaiman was shocked by the ban, along with many who are opposed to the ban. The school district’s superintendent, Dr. George Straface, responded that the district is “temporarily taking it out of use until we can review it in front of a panel of parents and teachers.”
Update: The district announced that the book was found educationally suitable, balanced, and age appropriate.
Source:
• http://cbldf.org/2013/10/neil-gaimans-neverwhere-banned-in-new-mexico-school-district/
