Book excerpt: "A case study that describes one school district's attempt to answer two questions: What should students read? Who should decide what students read? The answers to these questions, how those answers were determined, and an examination of the substance and structure of the answers reveal fundamental principles at work when a community institution attempts to resolve a basic educational problem. Such an examination also reveals why book controversies in particular are difficult to resolve. The book that was at the heart of this controversy is Go Ask Alice." --Introduction.