The Arizona Kid
by Ron Koertge
In Berry Middle School in Mesquite, Texas, (suburb of Dallas), this book was banned last year due to sexual content and profanity. Originally the book was to be moved to a high school, but the parent returned it damaged, so the book was discarded instead.
I’ve never even heard of the book, but here is the publishers description:
From the moment sixteen-year-old Billy steps off the train in Tucson, he knows this will be a summer unlike any he’s seen in small-town Bradleyville, Missouri. For starters, he’s staying with his cool gay uncle who has managed to get him a job at the racetrack caring for horses. Still, Billy doesn’t expect the horse racing world to be quite as rough and tumble as this–toiling side by side with a macho survivalist and falling hard for the feisty, romance-shy “exercise girl” Cara Mae. With his trademark fast-paced dialogue filled with wit and compassion, Ron Koertge tells the tale of an insecure teen who discovers that gaining stature involves more than Stetsons and boots–and that lessons on love and manhood come from the places you least expect.
Obviously, there appear to be several issues a parent could choose to be upset about. Sexual content and profanity were the two cited.
This book really shouldn’t be banned, in my opinion no book should be banned. Banning a book only makes a kid even more curious to read it. And the stuff that is in this book are things that kids are introduced to everyday. Most of the words out of a kids mouth as soon as they leave their parents are cuss words. I see no reason to ban this book.