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Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Warning to All Parents to Know What Your Child is Reading

The title of this blog post is a direct quote from the mother of a middle school child sexualized in public school by reading a recommended list book containing, among other things, a discussion of the caloric intake in a teaspoon of sperm. This is public school education? Perhaps the physics class will use a bomb calorimeter to determine the actual answer. The school properly and legally removed the book.

What a coincidence, the American Library Association promotes this book.

Here. Just let me reprint the article (Fair Use, US Copyright Act, and see the video that accompanies this story). It speaks for itself:

"Explicit Book Pulled from Middle School Library in Marietta," by Robin Beal, KXII-TV 12, 2 September 2008.

MARIETTA, Okla. -- A Love County parent is outraged after her young daughter brings home a book so graphic, we can't even repeat some of the dialogue on television.

Parents are usually proud when their youngsters take the initiative to read a book, but when Kathy Davis' daughter brought home a novel she checked out from her middle school library, both mother and daughter, were shocked by what was inside.

"She just told me, ‘Mom, it's gross,’" Kathy Davis told us.

Graphic descriptions of oral sex are detailed in passages discussing recreational drug use. What is even more shocking -- a question in class about how many calories a tablespoon of a certain bodily fluid contains, all in the pages of a book, aimed at young adults.

"It’s, it's awful... It's... I can't believe... I don't talk about that in front of my child -- and I don't expect it to be in a book that she can get from the library. I mean it's just... I'm speechless."

Kathy Davis was shocked when she saw what her 13-year-old daughter was reading. Innocent looking enough from the outside, the neon green cover is eye-catching, but the words on the pages inside reveal some very adult discussions.

"It’s nasty -- it's soft porn. As far as I have read -- if it was a movie, she couldn't go see it."

The book -- "TTFN" -- came from the Marietta Middle School library, and what's more -- it was on an advanced reading list worth eight points to any student who checks it out and reads it.

The book is recommended for older students, grades ten through twelve, and is written in "instant message" style, depicting online conversations between three fictional eleventh grade girls.

"She read page 32 to me and that was the end of the book. I took it away from my daughter and I can't believe they have these things, this type of reading in a middle school," Kathy Davis said.

That book, which does contain crude references to fellatio and other sexually explicit innuendo, has now been pulled from the shelves here at Marietta Middle School.

As far as how that book got there in the first place, and ended up on a recommended reading list, we don't know. School administrators refused on camera interview, saying only the book is "no longer available".

Ms. Davis she says this should serve as a warning to all parents to know what your child is reading.

2 comments:

  1. Here's a similar matter in a similar location with a similar book. Only now there's an online petition parents can sign:

    http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/KidSafe/

    "Parents Petition to Move Racy Library Books," by KXAN, Austin News, 25 September 2008. There's a link to a video to watch too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Go read this absolutely excellent blog post on this very topic, including quotes from the book:

    "Is TTYL on Your School Library Book Shelves?," by Vicki Courtney, Virtue Alert, 29 October 2008.

    ReplyDelete

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