Laguna Panel Decides Book Is Suitable for 9th-Graders

Responding to a complaint from a parent about a book assigned to his son, a review committee told the school board this week that “Bless Me, Ultima” is appropriate reading for ninth-grade students.

The objection from parent Jay Grant was the first such challenge to the Laguna Beach Unified School District’s literature program in recent memory, school officials said.

Grant, who writes a religion column for a weekly newspaper in Laguna Beach, had complained that the book contained profanity and “extreme and graphic” violence and derided religious faith.

Grant said he was particularly concerned about the book’s “anti-Christian stereotyping.” He asked that it be removed from the required reading list and be considered optional reading.

Teacher Charles Schiller said he selected the book, about a Mexican-American boy, partly because of the influx of Latino students to Laguna Beach High School in recent years.

Responding to Grant’s complaint, the district formed a review committee, which analyzed--and ultimately endorsed--the book. The English and language arts department then developed new procedures to better inform parents about what their children will be reading in the future.

“We used a systematic approach to deal with this issue,” said Robert A. Klempen, the district’s instructional services director. “We didn’t take it lightly.”

Grant said he considered the response a partial victory.

“I am disappointed in the decision, but . . . I fully respect all that’s been done,” he told the school board Tuesday night. “I’m not going to take this as a sore loss.”

In a telephone interview from his home in Albuquerque on Wednesday, author Rudolfo Anaya said his book is about a 7-year-old boy growing up in a small town in New Mexico and the rites of passage he undergoes as he explores the “alternatives of faith that he sees in life.”

Anaya said the boy is guided by an old woman who is a healer, and whose values are unlike the traditional values of his family. Both value systems guide him as he grapples with such questions as, “What is truth?” Anaya said.

“Most people have seen it as a novel that deals with spiritual values and questions we all ask ourselves about good and evil and . . . decisions we have to make about those important questions in our lives,” he said.

Anaya said he had no idea of the controversy swirling around his book in Laguna Beach.

“I’m always glad that there are readers discussing literature and its ideas,” he said. “That’s what literature should do is stir our imagination and create discussion in our lives, because that’s how we grow.”

Anaya, who taught at the University of Mexico for 19 years before retiring, said “Bless Me, Ultima” has been the subject of doctoral dissertations.

The author denied that his book derides religion, and said the language is integral to the characters.

Grant initially outlined his concerns about the book in a letter to the school board Jan. 25. He asked that new guidelines be issued regarding reading assignments so that parents are better informed.

Schiller wrote a detailed response to Grant’s complaints. He defended his selection, saying the religious themes in the story are not presented to encourage or discourage beliefs, and that the book’s profanity is not presented as “desirable or as something to be emulated.”

“Literature is based on conflict, often violent,” and what’s important is how the violence contributes to the overall meaning in the book, he wrote.

As a result of the controversy over “Bless Me, Ultima,” the high school’s English and language arts department has developed a procedure to allay the concerns of parents in the future.

Parents will be informed in writing of books being read each semester and given a brief description of the “potential problem areas,” such as profanity or violence, a department report says.