--- description: Parents complained about the number of swear words title: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Banned image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8016439320bec5df/69885f113c1639e0874593f1/curious-incident-book-school-ban.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Education](/tag/education/) ## Education Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time_ Pulled from School Reading List by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 13, 2015 12:54 PM CUT  Doubleday by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 13, 2015 12:54 PM CUT The novel of the multiple-Tony winning Broadway play _The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time_ has been taken off a summer reading list after parents complained about swear words and the book “taking of God’s name in vain.” After receiving emails and telephone calls from parents over “concerns over the delivery of the text”, Allen Burch, the principal of Lincoln High School in Tallahassee, Florida, cancelled the assignment because he wanted to “give the the opportunity for the parents to parent” according to the [Tallahasse Democrat](http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2015/08/07/dropped-reading-assignment-raises-questions-censorship/31304953/ "undefined"). “To have that language and to take the name of Christ in vain – I don’t go for that. As a Christian, and as a female, I was offended,” said Sue Gee, a parent who e-mailed the principal on July 20. According to the [Democrat](http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2015/08/07/dropped-reading-assignment-raises-questions-censorship/31304953/ "undefined"), “the f-word is written 28 times, the s-word 18 times, and the c-word makes one appearance.” Critics of the decision are calling it an act of censorship. “I feel like it is second-guessing teachers. I never thought that the school would participate in an act of censorship,” Valerie Mindlin, whose children attend the high school, told the newspaper. The novel by Mark Haddon is about a 15-year-old boy, with Asperger’s Syndrome, who investigates the death of a neighbour’s dog and uncovers dark truths about his family. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3995883/the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time-florida/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3995883/the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time-florida/"},"headline":"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Pulled from School Reading List","datePublished":"2015-08-13T12:54:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:08:51.404Z","description":"Parents complained about the number of swear words","url":"https://time.com/3995883/the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time-florida/","keywords":["Education","Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8016439320bec5df/69885f113c1639e0874593f1/curious-incident-book-school-ban.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8016439320bec5df/69885f113c1639e0874593f1/curious-incident-book-school-ban.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"curious-incident-book-school-ban","caption":"","creditText":"Doubleday","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3995883/the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time-florida/","name":"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Pulled from School Reading List"}}]}] ```