Unedited Diary of Anne Frank Remains Available in Birmingham Public Schools

Birmingham Public Schools will not change how it offers the Diary of Anne Frank to students despite a recent controversy about the book stoked by a Northville mother.

"We have no plans to remove the Anne Frank book," said district spokeswoman Marcia Wilkinson, who acknowledged hearing about the controversy early this week.

"Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl" is a first-hand account from a 13-year-old Jewish girl as she and her family lived in hiding in Nazi-occupied Holland for two years during World War II. They were finally captured by the Gestapo and many, including Frank, died in the Holocaust.

Several versions of Anne Frank’s diary exist. The first version was edited by Frank’s father, Otto Frank, and released in English in 1952. This edition removed several pages of content relating to Anne’s emerging sexuality and her distaste for her mother, according to the International Business Times. The book has since been re-edited to include other additions following Otto Frank's death in 1952.

A newly released unabridged edition of the book become the center of a statewide debate over parent's rights after a Northville woman complained that the book is too graphic for her daughter's seventh-grade class. Specifically, Parent Gail Horalek objects to a scene in which Frank discusses her female anatomy, and she filed a formal complaint with the Northville school district hoping to have the book banned at the school.

The issue prompted some response on the Birmingham Patch Facebook page.

"I went to private school as a child and raised reading far above my grade level," wrote KS Groben. "I read 'I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings,' 'The Bluest Eye', and 'The Sweet Hereafter' in the same class as 'Diary.' I found the sexuality in those books far more disturbing than Diary. In Diary I was more concerned about the whole genocide thing."

Lilliana Passalacqua wrote: "Her anatomy makes her uncomfortable? Not the fact that they were locked up while a human massacre was going on outside her window? really?!"

Do you think the school should ask for parents' permission before assigning the book to students? Tell us in the comments.