The opposition of some Illinois parents to a series of grade-school readers called ”Impressions”-which they say contains themes of witchcraft, fear, despair and violence-is part of a new national move against the books.
Parental interest in the 1st through 6th grade series was triggered by an article in the September issue of Citizen, a magazine with a circulation of 270,000 published by Focus on the Family, the Pomona, Calif.-based
organization of Dr. James Dobson, a Christian psychologist with a mission to promote family values.
Erin Dierking, a Wheaton mother of a 4-year-old girl and 2-year-old boy, and other parents opposing the books agree stories and poems they find objectionable are only a small part of the series that includes the writings of Martin Luther King Jr. and C.S. Lewis and excerpts from such classics as
”The Black Stallion” and ”The Wizard of Oz.”
But Dierking objects to selections in the reader such as this poem,
”He`s Behind Yer”:
” `HE`S BEHIND YER!` chorused the children but the warning came too late. The monster leaped forward and fastening its teeth into his neck, tore off his head. The body fell to the floor `MORE` cried the children `MORE`
`MORE` `MORE` ”
”If one story hurts one child, that`s one story too many,” Dierking said.
Though nearly all of more than 300 parents attending last Wednesday`s Wheaton school board meeting-most for the first time-raised their hands when asked by a father if they oppose the books, two mothers who frequently attend the meetings voiced their support.
Alice Williams, one of them, said, ”I support our teachers` judgment completely in the type of literature our children read,” she said. ”I have no objections to the books.” Eighteen adults spoke in opposition to the books.
Some Wheaton parents said they became interested in ”Impressions,” used in the district`s 13 elementary schools, only after reviewing the article that says that children reading the books ”will be told about hungry creatures that attach themselves to children`s bodies or lust for flesh” and ”will be asked which horrible death they would prefer.”
Anson Franklin, vice president for corporate communications at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, the publisher, said more than 800 letters protesting references to witches and the occult have been received in recent weeks. Franklin said he suspected most were generated by response to the magazine article.
But the ”Impressions” series has been under fire since 1987, primarily in Western states such as Oregon, California and Washington, where it was first marketed in the United States after being sold in Canada since 1984.
The readers ”topped the list of materials most frequently attacked”
last year in schools across the country, said People for the American Way, a constitutional liberties group, in its annual report on challenges to school books.
Franklin said ”Impressions” is the most controversial set of textbooks marketed by the publisher, and it has prompted divergent reactions.
Donna Fowler, issues editor for People for the American Way, described the series as ”imaginative literature of folklore and fantasy.” As for the stories and poems that objectors say create fear in the minds of children, she said, ”Criticism is in the eye of the beholder.”
Though Fowler contends the challenges to ”Impressions” mark a new level in efforts to censor books, Robert Hess, editor of Citizen Magazine said:
”This is not an issue of censorship. It`s an issue of selection of curriculum.”
Though Hess said objectionable materials in the readers may only be 5 percent of content, he added, ”You find a pattern of darker themes” that includes witchcraft and fear.
Hess said the seven-page article about ”Impressions” was the opening shot of a campaign to educate parents about school curricula. ”Parents haven`t been involved in the past, and this is what has slipped in under their noses,” he said.
The ”Impressions” series is used in more than 1,200 schools in 34 states and is the leading reading program in Canada, Franklin said. Besides Wheaton, Palatine and Glenview are among Chicago area school districts using the readers.
”Of the 822 stories, 22 refer to the witches and goblins,” Franklin said, adding that many are to be used around Halloween. ”They are very much part of the American folklore,” he said.
Franklin said there have been 23 formal challenges in school districts to pull the books, which were removed in two cases. Of five states that recently considered adopting ”Impressions” as approved books, only New Mexico did.
In Mississippi, which did not adopt the readers, Bob Tom Johnson, director of textbooks for the state Education Department, said parents began to protest by phone after hearing the books were on a list for consideration. The Wheaton-Warrenville Community Unit School District 200 Board approved ”Impressions” as supplemental readers, one of a number of additional instructional materials to be used at the teacher`s discretion. Another set of books is used as the basic reading series.
The board acted upon the recommendation of the Elementary Reading Subcommittee, a group of 10 classroom teachers and other staff members. Though ”Impressions” has been in use in the school district since August 1988, there have been no complaints until six weeks ago when parents began to state their objections.
At that time, School Supt. Richard Short directed the subcommittee to review the readers, and it reaffirmed its view that ”Impressions” is an excellent set of books for the district`s curriculum.
But after the extensive parent protest last Wednesday, the board asked Short to recommend at its next meeting on Nov. 28 a third evaluation of the readers and who should do it.
Kathryn DesCarpentrie, the district`s curriculum director, said she hopes the new intense parental interest in schoolbooks will be sustained so mothers and fathers will learn more about what their children read in the classroom.
