Banks said her decision had nothing to do with the theme of homosexuality in “Geography Club.” Instead, she was alarmed by the “romanticized” portrayal of a teen meeting a stranger at night in a park after connecting with that person – who turns out to be a gay classmate – through an Internet chat room.

While the book has been challenged by other schools for its sexual content, author Brent Hartinger of Tacoma said this is the first time he’s heard it challenged on the chat room issue.

“We want to send a strong consistent message to all our students that meeting individuals via the Internet is extremely high-risk behavior,” Banks wrote in a letter Nov. 2 to two parents who requested the book’s removal.

“To the extent that this book might contradict that message, I have determined it should not be in our libraries, in spite of other positive aspects (e.g., a strong anti-harassment theme).”

She directed that “Geography Club” be withdrawn from Curtis Junior High and Curtis Senior High school libraries.

“This is the most bogus thing I’ve heard of,” parent Connie Claussen said of Banks’ reasoning.

She believes the book handles the chatroom issue responsibly by presenting the dangers of meeting a stranger through the Internet. Before meeting the stranger, the main character learns enough information about the chat-line buddy that he realizes it’s a student at his school.

Claussen plans to appeal the book’s removal to the district school board.

“It is about gay students. However, the most important part of the book is that it’s about bullying, outcasts, about tolerance,” said Claussen. “This is a really good book for any student to read.”

Banks stressed that she supports librarians’ efforts to maintain book collections that represent the district’s diverse student body, including gay and lesbian students.

“I know these students often suffer in real life the fear and loneliness of the book’s protagonist, and the book’s strong anti-harassment theme is an important one,” Banks wrote in an e-mail to The News Tribune.

In the 2003 book, a teen thinks he’s the only gay kid in his high school until he learns that his online, gay chatroom buddy is a popular athlete at the same school. He meets other gay kids, and they form the school Geography Club, thinking the name will be so boring no one else will join.

The book has received favorable reviews and been placed on numerous adolescent reading lists. It’s one of 10 nominees for the Evergreen Young Adult Book Award 2006.

While the book has survived numerous ban attempts in school and public libraries, Hartinger said many librarians tell him they wish they could stock his book but won’t for fear of parent complaints.

Most challenges stem from its gay teen subject matter – not because of the chat room plot device.

“The reason gay teens are drawn to the Internet is that’s a safe place to explore their identity without being harassed or bullied,” Hartinger said. “It’s ironic my book would be pulled for this reason, contributing to this atmosphere of silence and gay intolerance.”

The issue arose when a University Place couple, with children in the junior and senior high schools, expressed concerns about the book to the schools’ joint PTSA President Marge Ceccarelli.

The PTSA provides money to help the schools buy library materials.

“I told them we were not going to censor books and what books the librarians can buy,” Ceccarelli said. She referred them to district officials.

The couple filed a written complaint Oct. 21 asking the district to remove the book.

They wrote that reading the book could result in a “casual and loose approach to sex,” encourage use of Internet porn and chatrooms, and the physical meeting of people through chatrooms.

Curtis High librarian Judy Carlson was among the district staff who helped Banks wrestle with the issue.

Carlson said she chose the book for the high school collection after reading reviews. The library book was regularly checked out by students.

But after the complaint was filed, she read the entire book and felt it should have more strongly emphasized the dangers of meeting people through the Internet.

“I’m not a prude, I’m not in favor of censorship in any form …but I would never knowingly put something out that I thought would harm someone,” she said. “We live in risky times, and I want to keep our students safe.”

Curtis Junior High librarian Linda Collins declined to say whether she agrees with the book’s removal.

“The district made the decision to withdraw the book. I’ve complied with the decision,” she said. “I believe the book has merit and sends a strong anti-bullying, anti-harassment message.”

River Ridge High School English teacher Liz Price said she doesn’t think the book would encourage kids to meet strangers through the Internet.

She leads a book discussion group of parents and students that is reading “Geography Club” this month.

“We tell them all the time that’s not safe behavior,” she said. “I think kids are smart enough to differentiate between what’s a good idea to do in real life and what’s being represented in a work of fiction.”

Curtis senior Ethan Nicely doubts reading about meeting someone through the Internet would prompt students to do the same.

“It’s just a book,” he said. “If kids want to read that, they should be able to. No one’s forcing them to read it.”

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