BOOK BANNED FOR USING THE WORD `STUPID'

BOOK BANNED FOR USING THE WORD `STUPID'

CHICAGO (Wireless Flash) -- It may be 1999, but when it comes to the banning of books, the year might as well be 1942. According to the American Library Association, which has declared next week (Sept. 25-Oct. 2) Banned Books Week, the public banning of books is a practice that just won't die. -- Recently, library officials in Zeeland, Michigan, banned a children's book because it contains the word "stupid." -- School officials in Bradenton Beach, Florida, wanted to ban a play because it contains a reference to sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer. -- An anatomy book was censored at schools in Escambia County, Florida, because it contained photographs of childbirth. -- And then there's the case of the school officials in Campbell County, Wyoming, who took offense to a book titled "Ghosts! Ghost Stories in Folklore" because it "misleads the reader" into thinking ghosts are real.