Editorial:

Normally, this is the kind of campaign we’d be dead against.

John Briscoe, a trustee for the Ocean View School District, and Judy Ahrens, a former trustee for the Westminster School District, asked the Huntington Beach City Council on Monday to ban Maya Angelou’s book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” from middle school libraries. Briscoe, in making his presentation, said he was speaking on behalf of “helpless children who are currently subject to inappropriate reading material.”

Considering the vast number of books that have ignited controversy in public schools, from “Daddy’s Roommate” to “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” it’s clear that just about everyone has their own definition of “inappropriate.” And we’re always inclined to encourage tolerance and diversity in schools, in part because books that shock one generation often seem innocuous to the next.

But we have to agree with Briscoe and Ahrens that “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is a remarkably explicit book for the average middle-schooler.

Among the themes Angelou describes in the novel are teen pregnancy, child molestation, the budding sexuality of teens and her own rape at the age of 8. That’s a heavy load for an age when reading choices tend to lean toward “Harry Potter” and “The Princess Diaries.”

In response to the complaints, the Ocean View School District has pulled Angelou’s book from library shelves and submitted it to its instructional review committee, and we encourage the committee to give the book a thorough read.

Fortunately, the district has options other than banning the book entirely. Supt. Alan G. Rasmussen said one possibility is to require parental permission for students to check out the novel, and that’s what we’d recommend.

Middle school is that most awkward of ages, when childhood is slipping away but young adulthood hasn’t set in. Most seventh- or eighth-graders haven’t yet reached a mature understanding of sexual issues, but they’re certainly aware of them. At some point, that education has to take place, and students are far better off getting it from a thoughtful book than from playground hearsay.

So we encourage the district to place limits on Angelou’s book, but still make it available to older kids who seek it. And for those who do, it wouldn’t be the first tough brush with reality they’ll endure in middle school.