[ISLMA-Share] Took by Mary Downing Hahn

Email list for the Illinois School Library Media Association islma at list.railslibraries.info
Sun Sep 18 19:31:34 CDT 2016


We are having our scholastic book fair this week. One of the titles showcased in the flyer and on the DVD has me concerned enough to ask your help. 

The title is Took by Mary Downing Hahn

It starts out with the father losing his job and moving the family to Virginia.  Once there, the children hear the story about Auntie, who is a witch, and her companion Bloody Bones from classmates. Both parents pull away from their children as depression sets in. 

Then the second grade girl is "took".

The parents shut down completely, with the dad playing video games and drinking, while the mom smokes, drinks, and sleeps all day. The inference could be made that they are also under the witches spell, but that is never articulated. 

This is not a one time occurrence. The drinking, smoking, dirty ashtrays, etc is repeated time and again. There is also no explanation as to why the parents started acting that way other than their girl is missing. 

SPOILER ALERT 

The seventh grade boy eventually gets his sister back. 

My question- if I pull this book from my scholastic book cart am I censoring? My district had issues with Harry Potter, the hunger games, and legend to name a few. 

Thanks! 

Also, you may want to watch that DVD before you play it. The part with took scared many of my 3-5 students. The 6th graders loved it. 

Titlewave says the book is For grades 5-8. Amazon stated ages 10-13. 



Kathryn Green



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