The “Thirteen Reasons Why" book was pulled form shelves briefly by a Colorado school district as the community grieves the loss of seven students who recently killed themselves.
The book and its Netflix spinoff have been accused by critics of "romanticizing suicide," according to The Associated Press.
As a result, a school district official ordered librarians in Mesa County Valley School District to pull “13 Reasons Why” from shelves temporarily — though the move has already been reversed.
“Due to recent events and media attention on the Netflix movie '13 Reasons Why,’ I am going to have this book temporarily removed from any kind of check out,” Leigh Gross, the curriculum director for the Mesa County Valley School District, said in a statement, according to The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.
At the time the order was issued, there were about 10 schools that had a hard copy of the book, while students and other school libraries had access to the eBook and audiobook.
Grasso says the school district was simply taking precaution.
“It would be hard for anybody who has dealt with suicide to not have a heightened awareness of things, to perhaps be a little more cautious about things,” Grasso said, according to The Associated Press.
However, some librarians and even school counselors were against the removal of the book, claiming that it does not include the same suicidal depictions as the Netflix series.
As a result, the temporary ban of the book was overturned just hours after Grasso issued it.
“I think we were just being cautious until we had the opportunity to look at the book and see how closely related to the movie it was,” Grasso explained.
“There is a formal, board approved process to challenge books in our district, and I believe it is our duty to follow that process, because censorship is a slippery slope,” an unidentified high school librarian told The Daily Sentinel.
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