By Electronic Mail

Superintendent V. Sue Cleveland

Rio Rancho Public Schools
500 Laser Road
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
March 9, 2015
Dear Dr. Cleveland:
As organizations committed to the freedom to read and the preservation of First Amendment law and
principles in public institutions, we are concerned by recent reports of a parental challenge to Gilbert
Hernandezs highly acclaimed Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories, A Love and Rockets Book in Rio Rancho
High School library.
We trust that you are following your own policies on Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials, which
indicate that reviews of challenged materials require a written and formal complaint, followed by a review of
the material in question by an appointed review committee. As you conduct your review, we urge you not to
accede to requests to remove the book from shelves, which would violate basic constitutional and educational
principles.
According to press reports, a parent of a high school student has objected to the graphic novel on the
grounds that it constitutes child pornography. Such an allegation is baseless, and entirely divorced from the
books well-established literary pedigree. Palomar is a part of the Love and Rockets series, created by brothers
Jaime, Gilbert, and Mario Hernandez. It is a generational family drama that examines the lives of characters
in the titular, fictional South American town.
Your own Library Bill of Rights indicates that one of the aims of the library materials is to provide materials
representative of the many religious, ethnic, and cultural groups and their contributions to our American
heritage. Palomar would appear to fulfill that criterion. Critics have praised its unflinching, lyrical
exploration of culture, identity, sexuality, and memory. Indeed, the Times ofLondon called it the graphic
equivalent to the fabulism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Nobel laureate, while Publishers Weekly referred to
Hernandezs work as a superb introduction to the work of an extraordinary, eccentric and very literary
cartoonist.It was also included in Time Magazine's Best Comics of 2003 list.
The content in the book hardly qualifies as child pornography. The Supreme Court defines child
pornography as images of actual children engaged in sexual activity, excluding drawings or computer
generated images. Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234 (2002). Palomar, a graphic novel, contains
only drawings, not images of actual children, and the child characters depicted in Palomar are not engaged in
sexual activity. In fact, all sexual images in Palomar depict adult characters, and this kind of expression is
fully protected by the First Amendment unless obscene. Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973). To be obscene,
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a work must taken as a whole, appeal to the prurient interest in sex,portray sexual conduct in a patently
offensive way, and [lack] serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. Id. at 24. Palomar meets none
of these criteria: taken as a whole, it does not appeal to the prurient interest in sex, it is not patently offensive,
and it most certainly has serious literary, artistic and political value. It is unquestionably expression that is
fully protected by the First Amendment.
As the Supreme Court has observed, sexuality, including teenage sexuality, has been a theme of art and
literature throughout the ages. Ashcroft, supra, at 246. If sexual content were excluded from the library
because some people object to it, the library would risk losing ancient and contemporary classics, from
Aeschylus Oresteia to Toni Morrison's Beloved. Would such titles be considered pornographic? As the Court
has explained, from a constitutional perspective, school officials are bound by a duty not to give in to
pressure to suppress images deemed controversial or offensive by some. The Supreme Court has cautioned
that school officials may not remove books from library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas
contained in those books and seek by their removal to prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics,
nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion. Board ofEducation v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853, 872 (1982)
(plurality opinion). This constitutional duty applies with particular force in the school library, which, unlike
the classroom, has a special role...as a place where students may freely and voluntarily explore diverse
topics. Campbell v. St. Tammany Parish School Board, 64 F. 3d 184, 190 (5th Cir. 1995).
Some parents prefer to keep their children from seeing the kinds of images included inPalomar. They have
the right to do this. But parents have no right to suppress access to content forall of the districts children.
Even if the novels images are too graphic for some students, they may be meaningful to others. There are
undoubtedly some students who would appreciate the book, and who have their parents blessing to read it.
They should have that opportunity. No book is right for everyone, and the role of the library is to allow
students to make choices according to their own interests, experiences, and values. The library is there
precisely to allow students to have a wealth of reading options, consistent with their interests, maturity level,
and parental guidance. Removing the book would suggest that no student should read it.
The task of selecting school library materials properly belongs to professional librarians and educators.
Palomar has gone unchallenged since it entered the school librarys circulation system in 2006, when it was
presumably chosen by a librarian who possesses the adequate knowledge, training, and expertise to make
decisions about what books belong on shelves. Parents may be equipped to make choices for their own
children; but, no matter how well-intentioned, they simply are not equipped to make decisions for others.
That responsibility belongs, first and foremost, to professional librarians.
Literature helps prepare students for the future by providing opportunities to explore issues they may
encounter in life. Graphic novels like Palomar may be especially powerful in this regard, providing
immersive, intimate lenses that traditional literature may not.
To this end, we strongly urge you to keep Palomar on Rio Rancho High School library shelves. This decision
would respect the rights of all students to read and think freely, and reject the notion that the views of some
readers about the value of literature, or its "appropriateness," may be imposed on all. By keeping the books
on the library shelves, you will demonstrate respect for your readers and their choices, for the
professionalism of the librarians who serve the reading public, and for the First Amendment and its
importance to a pluralistic, democratic society.
Sincerely,

Charles Brownstein, Executive Director

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

Joan Bertin, Executive Director

National Coalition Against Censorship
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Judy Platt, Director

Free Expression Advocacy
Association of American Publishers

Chris Finan, President

American Booksellers For Free Expression

Millie Davis, Senior Developer

Affiliate Groups and Public Outreach
National Council of Teachers of English

Lin Oliver, Executive Director

Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators

Fatima Shaik, Chair

Children's and Young Adult Book Committee
PEN American Center