Parents in Erie, Illinois have voted to ban "Family Book," a children's book by Todd Parr. The issue with the colorful children's book is that it includes a line that some parents thought inappropriate for their children.  The offending line: "Some families have two moms and two dads."

The decision by the Erie School District to ban the book after a board meeting where the majority of parents voted to remove it from the curriculum. The book's author said though the title has been out for 10 years, this is the first time there's been any controversy. Parr is the winner of several children book awards and has written and illustrated more than 30 books for kids.

The District Superintendent, Brad Cox, said, "At our April board meeting, we had between 75 to 100 people show up, which is quite a few, and the vast majority who spoke at that board meeting spoke in opposition of the materials."  Cox said that the book and lesson plans came from the Gay-Lesbian-Straight Education Network and was meant to teach elementary students about tolerance and diversity. 

A member of the Board's Materials Selection Committee said, "If you look at 'The Family Book,' you can tell it's done for elementary age children. It's a lot of colored pages, and one line sentences. We found them to be appropriate for the setting they were being used."  Though apparently that impression was not one that was widely shared.

According to a study by the Gay and Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLESEN), 45 percent of elementary students said that they hear the word "gay" being used negatively. They also said that they hear their peers use derogatory terms such as "fag" and "lesbo."

GLESN issued a statement on Wednesday saying that it is, "in the process of reaching out to district officials in the Erie Community Unit School District to understand their decision to reject the unanimous decision of a community-based committee in favor of the adoption of Ready, Set, Respect! in the district. Their further move to limit the use of our materials to grades 6-12 is both puzzling and deeply counter-productive."

The debate over the book has thrust the 1,600-person town into the national limelight. 600 people have signed an online petition asking the district to retract on their decision. Petitioners include local people as well as many who had heard about the debate through social media and online news.