As an introduction to Alice Walker, this small book presents two of Walker's most interesting stories, "Roselily" and "Am I Blue," and the beginning of her prize-winning novel, The Color Purple.

Further, the pages of Patricia Holt's introduction and the appendices of letters to the editors and meeting transcripts exemplify ways in which these fictional works have been the center of volatile controversy. They have been the subject of removal from tests (as in the case of the recent literature-based assessment tests in California), from school libraries and from school curricula.

These controversies, played out in communities across the United States, cut to the heart of issues of censorship and democratic process.