After a little bump of controversy in 2002, State College children's book writer Martha Freeman continues to dish out children's books with creativity, style and a strong sense of community.

Her newest book, Mrs. Wow Never Wanted a Cow, will be released in June.

As a former journalist and current Penn State instructor, Freeman said she did not expect to be good at writing fiction.

But her books have become successful stories in which she creates a feeling of neighborhood, and sometimes, controversy.

In 2002, Freeman's book, The Trouble with Babies, was released as the second book in a series Freeman was writing about a young girl adjusting to her mother getting remarried. The girl's neighbor is a boy with gay parents.

Freeman said she wasn't trying to make a statement about homosexuality when she created the characters and was shocked to find that it was banned from the shelves of a library outside of Pittsburgh.

Connie Cauvel, the Franklin County librarian who removed the book, said she did not think the book specified gay issues or was written in bad taste.

"I thought it was absolutely fine," Cauvel said. "I did not defend it or battle for it because I don't do censorship battles. They usually end up nasty, and it is a total lose-lose."

Cauvel said the book was removed because a parent complained, but that she has put the book back on the shelf and students are reading it again.

Freeman said she didn't think more about that situation than she thought about other characters in her book. She said she knew there were many teen books that tackle gay issues, but she said she didn't realize there weren't a lot of books that mentioned homosexuality in the age range she was writing for: 7- to 10-year-olds.

"It seemed natural in San Francisco that there would be a kid next door with two dads," Freeman said. "I didn't realize I was doing something completely new for that age."

Although she doesn't know of her book being banned elsewhere, Freeman said of the 10 books she has had published, The Trouble with Babies is the only book that has not been made into paperback, and she suspects this issue is the reason.

The book was never a problem here in State College where Freeman lives and works with her husband and three children.

Schlow Memorial Library Director Betsy Allen said The Trouble with Babies has never been complained about or removed from the shelves of Schlow, 211 S. Allen St.

Steven Herb, head of the education and behavioral sciences library, said the book was never questioned or pulled off the shelves of Pattee Library.

"One person not liking a book should not be a reason to remove it," Herb said. "Some people say if you can't find a book to offend you in a library, it's not a very good library."

Freeman was raised in southern California and attended Stanford University, where she received a degree in history before becoming a journalist.

Freeman said she began writing fiction after two of her children were born.

"I had been writing for newspapers and magazines freelance, and it did not work with kids," Freeman said.

Freeman made the switch to fiction writing and surprised herself at what she could do. Now, she said, her inspiration comes from many places, including her children, her friend's children and the town she lives in.

Freeman said she is also currently in the revision stages of a book called A Thousand Reasons Never to Kiss a Boy, in which she used a breakfast-table argument about appropriate school attire that occurred between a woman and her daughter, who Freeman met at a party.

"I needed to make characters not so superficial," Freeman said. "Stuff happens to [people] and I can put that in a book."