Minnesota high school urged to ban two books, including “Of Mice and Men”

A Twin Cities area high school has ordered instructors to stop teaching students about two novellas in the wake of complaints about their content. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that administrators at Henry Sibley High School in Mendota Heights have told staff to stop teaching John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” and Larry Watson’s “Montana 1948.”  

Administrators said families and staff had complained about racist stereotypes and slurs in “Of Mice and Men.“ They said the Native American community is upset with “Montana 1948” because the protagonist’s uncle sexually assaults and murders a Sioux housekeeper. Watson told the Pioneer Press that he didn’t have adolescents in mind when he wrote his novella.  

In 2003, the La Crosse Public Library chose “Montana 1948” for its “Read One Book” program, for people throughout the community to read and discuss. 

Sibley High School has been in the news this month, because of community pressure to change its name.  Native American critics argue that Henry Sibley, Minnesota’s first governor, was hostile toward indigenous people in the state and oversaw a mass execution of Dakota men in the 1860’s.