RACINE - An eighth-grade literature textbook that includes an excerpt from a book by Sen. Barack Obama has angered at least one Racine Unified parent and rankled a number of bloggers who contend that the district is trying to indoctrinate students.

Unified officials said they knew of no parent concerns about the textbook, which was adopted last year and has been in middle school classrooms since the fall of 2007, and disavowed claims that the district is trying to indoctrinate students.

"There is no unit on indoctrination," said Jeff Weiss, Unified's director of curriculum and instruction.

With Obama running for president against Sen. John McCain, the textbook has become an issue here in Racine, but the story has spread throughout the country.

Now district officials are receiving e-mails and phone calls from people who are angry about what they've read on blogs or heard on local conservative talk radio shows.

The district was one of the first in Wisconsin to use the book "McDougal Littell Literature, Grade 8," Weiss said. The book is published by McDougal Littell, a division of Holt McDougal. The textbook has a copyright date of 2008, but the district adopted the new book in May 2007. Students and teachers started using the book in September 2007.

The excerpt of Obama's 1995 book "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance," is included in a unit titled "Our Place in the World." The unit deals with history, culture and authors. The section about Obama also includes an excerpt from his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

The book was in classrooms before Obama had been selected to run as the Democratic candidate for President. It was being developed years before Obama announced his candidacy in February 2007.

The textbook choice was based on the textbook's emphasis on diversity in the reading selections, Weiss said. The book includes excerpts from American writers, of Native American, Japanese and Hispanic descent.

"We want to find materials that reflect our student body, which is a diverse and multicultural student body," Weiss said. "The goal of this is definitely not to endorse one political candidate or to endorse one political party over another."

The book was developed with the help of several education professionals over a period of time starting in 2004-05, according to Rick Blake, a spokesman for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the parent company of Holton McDougal, the book's publishers.

The textbook's editors felt that Obama's work was a strong example of an autobiography, coupled with his speech, which showed how a person's life story affects that individuals' work, Blake said. It was chosen for a specific pedagogical purpose, according to Blake.

"The decision to include these selections that refer to Obama was made long before it was known he would be a candidate for president," Blake said.

Blake said that subsequent editions of the textbook, bearing the copyright date of 2009, no longer contain the section about Obama, Blake said. The selections were removed once Obama declared his candidacy for president, he said.

Blake would not say how many school districts throughout the country were using the same textbook.

The textbook was chosen in Racine Unified by a committee comprised of parents, teachers and administrators and was selected because the newest edition was written especially for Wisconsin students and aligned with the state's standardized tests, Weiss said.

Weiss said he has received no complaints about the textbook and did not know there was any issue. Weiss said he was listening to a local radio station 620 WTMJ when he heard someone say "hear what they're handing out in eighth-grade classrooms in Racine." The station is the home of conservative talk show host Charlie Sykes.

The story started on http://realdebatewisconsin.blogspot.com and has apparently spread. Unified officials said they fielded calls from Fox News and the conservative Web site www.worldnetdaily.com, said Stephanie Hayden, Unified's spokeswoman.

Hayden said no principals had received complaints about the textbook and that she only started receiving calls and e-mails after the story starting appearing on blogs.

The district did not know the identity of the parent who was reportedly concerned about the textbook.