Members of rock band Portugal. The Man are stepping into a banned-book controversy in their Alaska home town.
After the school board at the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District in Palmer voted 5-2 last week to remove five classics used for high school English elective courses including F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Joseph Heller's Catch-22 and Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the band announced it would buy the books for any student or parent who wanted them.
The other two books are Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.
The books are controversial because of sexual references and descriptions of rape and incest, "things that are pretty serious problems, especially in our teenage world", said board member Jeff Taylor, a Wasilla business owner who voted in favour of the ban.
Portugal. The Man guitarist Eric Howk was surprised to learn of the decision in the district north of Anchorage where the band members attended school, KTVA-TV reported.