"While reading is a solitary occupation, it shouldn't stop there," she says. "The discussion is just as important. Serious literature or film begs for discussion. And one reason that these books are used in classrooms is because they raise issues that are at the heart of humanity."
People vary widely, however, in what they view as the central issues of humanity -- and how and where those issues should be discussed.
For example, consider Parents Against Bad Books in Schools (www.pabbis.com), a Web site that tracks concerns about library books and classroom texts used in Fairfax County public schools. To enter the site, users must assert they are 18 or older and read a warning about "objectionable or inappropriate" material.
On the other end of the spectrum is Censoround (www.libraryunderground.org/censoround), a blog maintained by Maryland-based writer and librarian Chris Zammarelli, who writes the "Banned Bookslut" column for Bookslut, a monthly webzine. He started the site in 2001, when some parents began objecting to the Harry Potter books. Censoround features this warning: "This blog contains discussions of mature subject matter and lots of profanity. So kids, don't tell your parents you're here."
The "Captain Underpants" books have also gotten objections from parents who "don't like the subversiveness of it, the potty humor," Zammarelli says. But these books can hook reluctant readers and encourage them to read more, he says.
Joy Pohl, an English teacher with 38 years' experience who is now at Thomas Wootton High School, says parents may object to all kinds of books, but often the reasons are the same. Among them, language and subversiveness.
"Huck has been banned somewhere in the United States since 1885," she says.
Pohl has also encountered parents who've objected to Dante's "Inferno." One mother protested after she discovered her high school son reading violent passages aloud to his (admittedly) gleeful younger brothers. More recently, a Muslim mother expressed concern about the poem because Muhammad occupies the innermost circle of Hell. In such cases, Pohl says, alternate texts are always available.
"I try to find a book with a similar time frame or genre. But you can't expect a teacher to prepare two whole lessons, so the child is going to lose something," Pohl says. For herself and her students, she says, "I always require the student to remain in the classroom, hoping that they might pick up on what we discuss about how to structure an essay. You might learn from what you overhear."
In Anne Arundel, Russell's daughter and several other students were allowed to leave the classroom whenever Angelou's book was discussed.
Had Bridget been the only student pulled from class, Russell says, she might have made her decision with greater reluctance.
"If I had been the only one being sent from class, I'd have felt weird. But with six of us, I didn't mind," says Bridget, 14.
Davis says the National Council of Teachers of English has guidelines for teachers and school systems to follow as they select books. The two most important are that the materials satisfy the requirements of the curriculum (or meet the standards of the school or school district) and that the materials are age-appropriate.
"There are no books that someone won't find objectionable," Davis adds. "Certain words or events, even added together, do not make the whole work or the reason it was selected to be taught."
Says Russell, "I'm exercising my right to choose what my children read. Bridget reads a lot. At some point, when she's older, she can read 'Caged Bird.' "
