Two weeks ago, parents in the Idaho school district of Meridian successfully campaigned to remove Alexie's novel from its 10th grade reading curriculum and additional reading lists. A National Book Award winner, The Absolutely True Diary is a searing coming-of-age story about a Native American teenager who decides to attend an all-white high school outside of his reservation. It's a powerful narrative about modern race relations in the U.S. But the Meridian school board sided with parents who objected to its alleged sexual and anti-Christian content, along with, as noted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, other stuff:
[A]n adult named Lonnie Stiles complained that the Alexie novel contains language “we do not speak in our home.”
Apparently the adults who objected to the book weren't thinking about the teens living on Idaho's five Native American reservations. But the district's local teens fought back, organizing a petition to have the book reinstated. In response, the local Boise bookseller Rediscovered Books crowdfunded a $3,400 campaign to buy copies of the book for each of the 350 students who signed the petition.
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And then, of course, irate parents ruined it by literally calling the cops to the scene. Boise news station KBOI reported that even the cops were baffled about why they'd been asked to police a book giveaway.
KBOI reported that police had been summoned by "someone concerned about teenagers picking up a copy of the book without having a parent's permission."
Parent calls cops on teen for giving books away at a book giveaway
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