I had gone there to pick up a book from the Simsbury High School summer reading list for English 10.1/10.2. My son had randomly selected a few titles, but most were already checked out, so I placed holds for us — and the first to become available was Someday by David Levithan.
After checking it out, I glanced at the cover. The tagline struck me immediately:
“Every day a new body. Every day a new life. Every day a new choice.”
Curious — and admittedly uneasy — I looked further. The story is about a character named “A,” a genderless being who wakes up in a different person’s body each day. The author, David Levithan, is also known for books like Two Boys Kissing and Boy Meets Boy — stories centering on themes of identity, gender, and s[*]xuality.
Something inside me recoiled. I asked my son to pick another book. I just couldn’t bring myself to let him read this — to me this looked like the intentional shaping of young minds with a very specific worldview.
I tried reading Someday myself. Ten pages in, I had to stop. Not because I don’t enjoy reading — I absolutely do — but because this felt more like ideological grooming than literature. To give it a fair chance, I even asked Grok AI for a breakdown of the book. It listed some supposed benefits, like encouraging readers to “reconsider assumptions about gender” by exploring life through different bodies — male, female, nonbinary, unspecified.
But I can’t help but ask:
Is this really what will help my son develop strong reading comprehension? Will this improve his analytical skills, prepare him for college, give him insight into history, philosophy, literature, geography or human nature?
Or is it simply another nudge toward embracing a particular ideological agenda?
Why do I, as a parent, have to screen every single recommended book from a well-regarded public school — a school we pay high taxes to support — just to make sure it’s even appropriate?
When I was 15, I was an avid reader. I devoured books — Azerbaijani, Russian, American, European classics. No one had to check what I was reading, because our schools recommended works that built character, that inspired ambition, that taught us something enduring.
I grew up on Dickens, Dumas, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Charlotte Brontë, Jack London, Jules Verne — stories of human strength, moral struggle, discovery, and growth.
And now, in 2025, my son’s well-ranked Connecticut school recommends a book about a genderless being who lives in borrowed bodies.
Walking out of the teen section on the second floor of the Simsbury Public Library, I looked around. I’d seen it before, but today it hit differently. The “teen safe space” was draped in rainbow and transgender flags. A woman sat nearby, clearly signaling affiliation with the LGBTQ+ community. Librarians wore name tags with preferred pronouns prominently displayed. Posters announced “LGBTQ+ Teen Night” — every first Thursday of the month, ages 13-18, with free snacks, games, crafts, and community.
On the surface, it sounds innocent — welcoming, even. But something about it feels engineered, curated — like the goal isn’t connection but conversion. More and more, it seems that Simsbury High and Simsbury Public Library have become less about academic excellence and more about ideological celebration.
Instead of aiming for the best education, they’re drenched in rainbow-colored narratives, pushing teens deeper into identity confusion under the banner of inclusion.
And where does all this lead?
Sometimes — tragically — it ends the way it did for Ilene.
My daughter.
Who followed this very path of identity exploration and affirmation — only to end her life in the end.
Source of guest post:
I just returned from the library, and I can’t even begin to describe the emotions surging through me. It’s a storm — anger, despair, disappointment, sadness, outrage, frustration — all at once.
— True Teller (@TrueTeller2024) August 8, 2025
I had gone there to pick up a book from the Simsbury High School summer reading list… pic.twitter.com/XihmxSE0Ng
Wow, Someday includes the "trans" main character k[*]lling people and enjoying it, then talking about dead bodies. Can you believe that, given the tragedy that happened in the author's family? Let me guess, librarians would say this is so "children can see themselves in the books on the shelves."
Sometimes — tragically — it ends the way it did for Ilene.My daughter.Who followed this very path of identity exploration and affirmation — only to end her life in the end.
I read the whole book. This book is the usual poor writing about political ideology and crushes, taking the place of good writing, like by "Dickens, Dumas, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Charlotte Brontë, Jack London, Jules Verne." So kids are not only reading trash, but they aren't reading good books. It's a double negative.
Or as David Levithan put it in the book, as if reviewing his own book, "sh[*]t, I said." It's "fifteen minutes of f[*]ck up time." "It's all so predictable."
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