Library to keep mermaid book

A book illustrated by a Utah artist has a solid place in the young adult section of the Davis County Library, despite a Bountiful mother's request for its removal.

The library's board of directors voted unanimously Tuesday to keep the book on its shelves.

Valerie Mills said she decided to seek the book's removal after her 5-year-old son in June showed her a picture of topless mermaids and other partially nude mythical creatures from a fantasy book he had borrowed from the library — "Voyage of the Basset," illustrated by Orem artist James Christensen. She said she believes children can be vulnerable to certain images because they have a hard time distinguishing between fantasy and reality.

"I'm not saying the book is intended to be pornography," Mills said in an interview Wednesday.

After Mills made her first appeal in June, the book was moved from the children's section to young adult, she said. But she felt the library's board should look at the book for themselves and evaluate its content, so she appealed further.

Library director Pete Giacoma said the board had three choices. It could have removed the book from the library, kept it in the young-adult section or moved it to the adult section.

"James Christensen is a highly respected, if not loved, illustrator in this area," Giacoma said.

The book had been moved to the young adult section on an earlier appeal, said board member Mike Gann. The Salt Lake City Public Library keeps the book in both the children's and the adult section.

Ultimately, the Davis board believed the book should stay, because it's the library's job to provide material and let patrons choose what they will read, Gann said.

"We don't rate books," he said. "Where do you draw the line?"

When children borrow books, parents should supervise those choices, he said.

"Shifting responsibility from the parents to another entity — that's a real dangerous thing to do — a really dangerous attitude."

Giacoma said the library board members also wanted to keep the book in circulation because it has high interest in the community. "Voyage of the Basset," published in 1996, has been checked out 400 times since the library got it, he said.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com