A few days ago we brought you news of a parent’s attempt to get Jeff Smith’s comic book series Bone banned from her local library.  Robot 6 got Smith’s response to the controversy at last weekend’s C2E2.

At his panel spotlight he had this to say:

She objected to the gambling, smoking and drinking and the sexiness. I feel sorry for her son.  He’s going to be really embarrassed, but you know, not everybody has to like my stuff. That’s fine.  But I really can’t go along with this un-American concept of banning books.  Let the Nazis do that.

Ramona DeLay of Apple Valley, Minnesota complained about the depictions of “drinking, smoking, gambling and “sexual situations between characters,” and is asking for the comics to be removed from the district’s 18 elementary schools; 12 of those schools have at least one volume of Bone available to students.

On April 27 the Reconsideration Review Committee will meet to discuss the request.  Out of 20 requests in the past, they’ve only removed items in three instances.

Jeff Smith’s praised comic book series Bone is kicking up some trouble for the community of Apple Valley, Minnesota.  On April 27 the district’s reconsideration review committee will meet to consider a request to remove the Bone series of comic books from shelves at 12 schools, including Rosemount Elementary School.

Parent Ramona DeLay objected to depictions of smoking, drinking, gambling and “sexual situations” in the long-running series.  DeLay found the “inappropriate”  material when her fifth-grade child brought a volume of the books home from Southview Elementary School.

The series is generally considered all ages and rand from 1991 to 2004 and has received numerous awards during it’s run including Eisner’s.

Three teachers, five parents, an elementary principal, an elementary media specialist and a middle school media specialist will read the entire series before the meeting on April 27.

This comes at a time when libraries are struggling to classify and properly stock comic books.