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older African-American campers who feed and shelter them for the night
and keep the camp director in ignorance. When they leave the following day,
Laura tries again to call her mother, but Maddy s secretary refuses the collect
call, so she calls her mother s apartment and leaves a message on the answer-
ing machine in which she explains the entire ordeal until the money for the
pay phone runs out. Laura begs her mother to also consider taking Howie
when they leave the camp and promises to meet her in the camp parking lot
on Saturday.
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THE GOATS
The two plot to obtain one more day of shelter at the Starlight Motel.
Laura poses as a motel maid to obtain the key of a registered guest family that
has just completed packing up their car. Laura then poses as Mrs. Hendricks
and tells the clerk at the main desk that the family has had car trouble and
would like to extend their stay another day. After, Laura and Howie leave
the room to allow time for the maid to change the sheets and towels and to
straighten up the room. When they return, they fall asleep in the same bed,
after talking about their parents and revealing that both feel they have been
burdens rather than sources of joy in their families. In bed, they cuddle, and
Laura touched the palm of his hand with the tip of her tongue experimen-
tally, after which she learns Howie s name, and he learns that her true name
is Shadow, not Laura. They fall asleep and then they awaken and go to din-
ner, planning to charge the meal to their room, but Laura is accosted by the
motel manager when Howie goes to the bathroom. Mrs. Purse, the old, pink-
haired maid, had watched as they left the room and reported to the manager
that she had not seen any luggage when she cleaned the room. They spent
the afternoon in the same bed. At her age. . . . I don t know what this world s
coming to. Howie creates a diversion by setting off car alarms and the fire
alarm, which allows Laura the opportunity to run out to meet him.
They walk on the highway, and the next morning they are stopped by
a man in a Jeep bearing the name Hofstadder s Goat Farm on the door.
Flashing a badge, he tells them his name is Pearly Hofstadder. He assures
them that he is a sheriff s deputy and will give them a ride. Once they are in
the Jeep, they notice it smells like goats, a fact explained by the driver, who
says that he had to carry one of his goats in the back seat a few weeks earlier.
They notice that the door handles from inside the car have been removed,
and they panic. Pearly tells Laura and Howie that he knows they are the kids
who have run away from camp and set off the fire alarm the night before. He
also leers and makes suggestive comments to them: Getting a little nudgy,
uh? . . . You know what I mean, Howie. Hell, I don t mind. I m a liberal. It s
okay by me if you kids have a little fun. I bet you and your girl have had a
high old time. Ain t that right, Howie? Hofstadder pulls the truck onto a
deserted road and steps out to make a call but makes the mistake of leaving
the keys in the ignition. The children drive away, accidentally knocking him
down, then crash the vehicle a short distance away and take off on foot. Laura
finally manages to find her mother and speak with her, and she is surprised to
hear Maddy cry with concern rather than express the anger she had expected.
The novel ends with Howie and Laura hoping to continue the relationship
they have forged, as they walk to Laura s waiting mother.
CENSORSHIP HISTORY
The Goats has provoked controversy for its perceived sexuality rather than
for depictions or graphic description. In 1992, parents of students attending
the Housel Middle School in Prosser, Washington, demanded that school
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THE GOATS
librarian remove the book because it contains a passage describing the res-
cue of a naked girl. Although that overly simplistic description is inaccurate,
the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom reported in March 1993 that parents
expressed concern that middle school children should not be subjected to
reading graphic descriptions as those of the girl s two shriveled nipples and
the references to her pubic hair. The parents submitted a formal complaint to
the Prosser School District board of education, which, in turn, directed the
school library to remove the book from shelves and to make it unavailable to
students.
In 1994, parents of students attending Timberland Regional Middle
School in Plaistow, New Hampshire, challenged the inclusion of The Goats
on the seventh-grade reading list. The January 1995 issue of the Newsletter on
Intellectual Freedom reports that parents expressed concern about the language
in the book, which they felt was offensive and inappropriate language for
seventh-grade readers. Their objections included the use of the words damn
and bastard, as well as references to nipples and the pink lace bikini panties
that Laura steals from the municipal beach bathhouse.
In 2000, despite the absence of any sexual activity or sexual contact
between the two main characters or between any other characters in the
book two parents in Londonderry, New Hampshire, filed a formal com-
plaint with the school board asking for a ban of the book, a required reading,
which they believed was not appropriate for 12- and 13-year-old students.
As the September 6, 2000, issue of the (North Andover, Massachusetts)
Eagle-Tribune reported, Malinda Scannell, one of the parents, claimed in her
complaint that it s sexuality that drives the book. Another parent, Rose
Marie Haddad, had submitted a formal complaint against use of the book
in the classroom in January 2000. In her complaint, Haddad objected to the
descriptions of Laura s naked body and the centerfold on the cottage ceil-
ing, and she also questioned the cruelty that the campers showed to Laura
and Howie, saying that she hoped children wouldn t put others in a similar
situation. While waiting to consider the complaint, the school board did
remove the book from the curriculum, although it remained in the school
library. The school district then created a committee of parents, teachers and
School Board Chairman Daniel J. Bever to review the book. After a month
of deliberation, the committee rejected Haddad s challenge and the school
board planned to return the book to the curriculum. In August 2000, Scan-
nell appealed the decision, and the school board ordered The Goats removed
from the library after receiving the formal complaint. On September 26,
2000, the Londonderry School Board voted 4 to 1 to return The Goats to
the curriculum, but the board also determined that, at the beginning of the
academic year, middle school parents would receive a list of the books in the
curriculum with a brief synopsis of each, so they could let teachers know if
they did not want their children reading certain books. School board member
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