SW Missouri school board upholds Alexie book ban

STOCKTON, Mo. (AP) – A southwest Missouri school board has voted unanimously to uphold an earlier decision to ban a book from the school curriculum.
The Stockton School Board on Wednesday night voted 7-0 to continue the ban on Sherman Alexie's “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.” The board also voted against a proposal to restrict the book to the school library.
The board had banned the book in April after complaints from a parent about its sexual language, off-color jokes and discussion of racism, alcoholism and violence.
The American Library Association and some Stockton parents had asked the board to reconsider its decision.
The novel depicts a boy who leaves his school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white high school. It won the 2007 National Book Award for young people's literature.