Book Flap Spurs Calls To Reflect Diversity on Board

By Adrienne D. Coles

A challenge over the use of a children's book in a suburban Chicago district ended with the resignation of the school board president last week in an effort to promote racial diversity.

The school board in the Flossmoor, Ill., district decided at a Nov. 12 meeting to remove the book, War Comes to Willie Freeman , from the curriculum at the K-8 Western Avenue School after its contents prompted a parent to complain.

The book by James Collier, which chronicles the adventures of an African-American girl during the Revolutionary War, contains racial slurs and includes a scene in which a soldier, questioning the girl's...