Posted on 07/07/2010 1:38:38 PM PDT by MissTed
A Japanese serial graphic novel genre popular with young teens has raised the ire of a Crestview mother whose teenage son got hold of an adult version of the genre from the Crestview Public Library.
“Manga” depicts highly stylized adventure and, occasionally, violence in fantasy settings.
Margaret Barbaree, founder of a citizens’ group called Protect Our Children, presented examples from a manga book to the Crestview City Council last week that she described as “graphic” and “shocking,” taken from material she said is “available to children” at the Crestview Public Library.
“My son lost his mind when he found this,” Barbaree said of the manga book from which her examples were taken.
She said her son had removed the book unsupervised from the library’s general stacks last summer and put it in his backpack. She has kept it ever since.
“Now he’s in a home for extensive therapy,” she said.
Several months ago, Barbaree had circulated a petition bearing 226 signatures of citizens protesting the availability of manga, which she mistakenly referred to as “anime,” or Japanese animation.
However, the library said some patrons complained they were misled when they signed the petition.
“They told us she (Barbaree) approached them at the Christmas parade and asked them to sign a petition protesting pornography in the library,” said Resource Librarian Sandra Dreaden.
Barbaree said Library Director Jean Lewis explained to her that there is a demand for manga, and that the library strives to meet the needs of its patrons.
City Council President Charles Baugh Jr. assured Barbaree that “we have safeguards in place to protect our children and we have committees that review library purchases so they meet the standards of the (American) Library Association.”
The books that concerned Barbaree “are in the library for those who wish to partake of them and they are in a section of the library” for adult patrons, said Baugh, who visited the library himself the day after the council meeting and said he found the manga available in the young adult section perfectly innocuous.
“We follow up with our citizens’ concerns,” Baugh said after meeting with library staff and viewing the young adult manga.
Baugh also confirmed that the book Barbaree’s son had taken was in the general stacks well away from the children’s and young adult books.
“Our library is well managed and well staffed,” Baugh told Barbaree while assuring her, “I am a family man and I understand what you are saying.”
Lewis said the manga available in the young adult section of the library is oriented toward young teen readers and does not contain the adult themes of the book Barbaree’s son took. That book had been in the general stacks, on a top shelf in a section with other graphic novels and comic books not geared toward young readers.
“We have policies and procedures in place to prevent underage children from accessing those materials,” Baugh said.
Oh. My. God. And this poor kid is a teenager no less. He's probably seen far worse on the internet. I smell crazy mother here.
I browsed through a bit and didn't see anything that would put anyone in therapy/
I live in the same county. Crestview, where the mom lives, is notorious for ... really stupid people stuff. It’s like Rio Linda that Rush is always mocking. You hear about people passing out drunk in the Whattaburger drivethrough lane at 2 am in Crestview. It’s the meth and stupid capital of the area.
This mom is nuts if she’s suing the library over a book her son stole.
Google or Bing hentai. And be ready as it’s not ordinary comic book (manga) stuff.
Manga is simply comics books. Hentai is violent/graphic comics. Hentai depicts dismembered women and their “dates” etc.
Google hentai. Manga is Flash Gordon. Hentai is Flesh Gordon with a chainsaw.
Darn. I was figurin’ this poor kid got hold of something from the Miskatonic University Library Restricted Stacks.
I don’t either, but if some materials are deemed only for 18+ by law, I don’t see why library shouldn’t put any restriction on those.
Probably the tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs.
Seriously, some of the adult Japanese cartoons are bizarre and sick. If a book store or magazine stand would be arrested for for selling it, the library should not be making it available to minors. That said, I don't care what the lady claims, no relatively sane person will need to be in extensive therapy simply because of one book.
I don't believe censorship has any place in the public library either, but by the same token I don't want my tax dollars going to buy pornographic crap.
Censorship is when the government forbids people to read certain books. It is not censorship when a government entity declines to spend public funds to buy certain books.
BS meter is pegged out!
She’s put a bullseye on her back for the anti-home-schoolers ...figuratively speaking of course.
Trust me I know what hentai is - I’m an anime/manga fan and I need to know how to avoid hentai, yaoi, yuri, and other lovely stuff like that.
Not saying that it should be in a library at all, but if the kid stole the book from the adult section, then I think he and his mom are more to blame than the library.
All I can say is their branch of the library must have a heck of a lot more cash than mine here in the south part of the county, I can’t find new science fiction on the shelves let alone hentai. Sheesh.
Anyway without knowing what the manga is I’m not sure it would be hentai. It’s possible it’s one of the more disturbing graphic novels that aren’t sexually explicit - there are plenty of those. It’s sort of an important detail...
Very common and much of the material is (within the rather odd, to most westerners, Japanese standards for what is considered "obscene") very violent and sexually oriented. While the text is in Japanese the art work tends to be very stylistic and I think that's what makes it attractive to western teenagers. But I would tend to agree that this kid (and/or his mommy) must have some preexisting "issues".
Sounds like the boy stole the book. Am I reading that right?
Yeah, the fact that the actual title of the manga in question is scrupulously avoided throughout this story raises my suspicions, as well. (I mean, "manga" could just as easily mean Pokemon, for pity's sake...!) ;)
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