Larry Watson

Shorewood wants everyone to read novel; Merrill parents try to ban it

October 5, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

Larry Watson, left, author of the best-selling novel, "Montana 1948," is speaking in Shorewood today to kick off a "Shorewood Reads" program in which the whole community is being encouraged to read his book. Elsewhere, they're trying to ban it. Shorewood Patch says:

Shorewood Library Director Beth Carey estimated that the book has been checked out of the library more than 200 times and been read by a number of area book clubs over the last few months...

Montana 1948 has been the featured book in community reading programs numerous times since its publication in 1993, something Watson attributes to the fact that it deals with the kind of moral dilemma that “frequently makes for interesting and productive discussions.”

The novel also has provoked an interesting discussion in Merrill, up the road a piece, where some parents tried to get it banned from high school libraries and out of the curriculum for 10th grade English students.

That effort failed, as the Wausau Daily Herald reports: