HUDSONVILLE, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – On Monday, the Hudsonville Public Schools Board voted in favor of removing a book from the high school library after numerous parental complaints regarding appropriateness of content. 

After parents complained that the war memoir, Jarhead, was too violent and disrespectful to the military, while also containing references to drugs, profanity, and graphic descriptions of sex, the school board voted narrowly, 4 votes to 3 votes, in favor of removing the book from shelves. 

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At the meeting earlier this week, Board President Barb Hooper read a passage regarding the author’s description of potentially committing suicide. 

“This is troubling. A student who is struggling mentally and maybe considering suicide, in my opinion, probably should not be reading that comment that suicide is a courageous act.” 

According to the author, Anthony Swofford, he believes that Hudsonville is the first district nationwide to target his book, which has also been adapted into a movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal.  The book also has been the winner of the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for memoirs nearly two decades ago. 

In PEN America’s banned books list, Jarhead, does not appear on the list nor does it fall in the banned category according to The EveryLibrary Institute and EveryLibrary according to BridgeMI. 

This latest removal of a book from a library comes after multiple instances in the fall wherein schools had to remove student access to books that were considered too sexually explicit including the Dearborn School District which removed some books from its shelves.  

Earlier in the legislative term, at least one House Representative submitted legislation that would involve harsher penalties for libraries that contain material “obscene or sexually explicit matter that is harmful to minors.” 

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“My office has received an outpouring of calls from constituents who are angered at the content found in the children’s sections of their local libraries,” Representative Neil Friske (R-Charlevoix) said in a statement, “This is a genuine concern for folks in my district, and my bill aims to keep children across the state safe.”

Furthermore, libraries would be responsible for providing a governing body that would address material that is inappropriate while relocating such materials to a restricted area of access only to individuals 18 years of age or older.