Janet Soden didn't know that several novels her daughter was assigned to read at Manheim Township High School contained depictions of violence and sex.
Then she heard from other parents and a teacher about potentially objectionable material in the books, reviewed them herself and requested that her daughter be assigned alternate texts.
The school complied, but Soden and other parents wondered why Manheim Township School District couldn't have alerted them in advance to the troubling passages.
A few years ago, the parents approached the school board to request that it consider adopting a rating system or some other means of providing a "red flag" to parents about the books their children are asked to read.
The district recently came up with a solution that superintendent Gene Freeman said will give parents more useful information without crossing the line into censorship.
In the coming months, the parents of all Manheim Township students in grades six through 12 will receive a list of the district's literary canon that indicates whether a book has been challenged or banned, either locally or on the national level.
The list also will indicate which books are considered "Great Books for College-Bound Readers" by the College Board and which books meet national curriculum standards or are written by authors recommended for advanced-placement students.
In addition, all English teachers will provide an explanation on their course syllabuses for why a particular book was selected for their class.
"As the superintendent and as a parent, I feel that this plan gives parents the notification, explanation and ability to make decisions regarding their child's own learning experience," Freeman said.
"We expect the measures will strike an appropriate balance between respect for individual ideals and wide-ranging literature" in district schools.
The book list will indicate which titles have been challenged by Manheim Township parents and which appear on the American Library Association's top 100 banned or challenged books from 2000 to 2009.
Books challenged locally include "Animal Dreams" by Barbara Kingsolver, "Beloved" by Toni Morrison and "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou.
The district submitted those texts to a review by an advisory committee of administrators, teachers, librarians and community members. The panel decided to keep the books in the canon; it did, however, move "Animal Dreams" from the ninth-grade curriculum to 11th grade.
The list of nationally challenged books includes many more titles, including such classics as "To Kill A Mockingbird," "The Great Gatsby" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."
The list doesn't provide any information on why the books were challenged, but it "should send up a red flag to parents that says you should look into this further," Freeman said.
In the end, it's up to parents to decide what is appropriate reading material for their children, he said.
Soden, who attended the school board meeting where the plan was announced, praised the administration for implementing "a good first step."
"We were happy with the solution, so long as it's kept in front of people," she said, expressing a concern that parents may glance at the book list and then discard it.
She would rather have the district send a notice home each school year, Soden said.
Scott Roper, another parent who had been advocating for a parental notification system, said he is satisfied with the solution.
"At least maybe this will wake folks up, and they'll look at the books more closely," he said.
The listing will be posted on the district's website, which currently includes summaries of each of the books.
