Do you all not realize that these are things middle schoolers are doing/experiencing? It’s important to provide space to have conversations about it so that 1) they don’t feel alone 2) they know warning signs 3) they know how to get help/support.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is for middle schoolers?

Totally reasonable. You cannot bubble wrap your kids from everything out in the world, and you certainly can't at ages 11-13. If you're concerned, read the books they read and talk about it with them. Literature is a great (and safe!) way to be exposed to different experiences, even really awful negative ones or explicit ones or ones that don't tie neatly into "good" or "bad." Don't you want them to learn about the holocaust? And slavery? You can't paint the whole world with rainbows and sunshine. They aren't little kids anymore.

The question is, if a girl said she was looking forward to getting home so she could suck off her boyfriend, would that be okay? What about kids using the word dick in the classroom? And what about a guy saying if his girlfriend annoys him then he might slap her a bit? If we wouldn’t tolerate those things from our kids then I don’t see why they should be reading it.

I wouldn't want a kid saying he's going to go home and murder his landlord, mercy kill his disabled friend, or lock his mad wife in the attic, but I'm very happy to have them read about in English class.

The main challenged book here is also for high schoolers, not middle schoolers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is for middle schoolers?

Totally reasonable. You cannot bubble wrap your kids from everything out in the world, and you certainly can't at ages 11-13. If you're concerned, read the books they read and talk about it with them. Literature is a great (and safe!) way to be exposed to different experiences, even really awful negative ones or explicit ones or ones that don't tie neatly into "good" or "bad." Don't you want them to learn about the holocaust? And slavery? You can't paint the whole world with rainbows and sunshine. They aren't little kids anymore.

The question is, if a girl said she was looking forward to getting home so she could suck off her boyfriend, would that be okay? What about kids using the word dick in the classroom? And what about a guy saying if his girlfriend annoys him then he might slap her a bit? If we wouldn’t tolerate those things from our kids then I don’t see why they should be reading it.

PP here - if someone learned about the holocaust and then said "yeah, I'm going to become a Nazi, it sounds like that's a good plan" or if someone learned about slavery and said "I'm going to start using the N-word because black people are clearly inferior" would that be okay?

Reading stories about things that other people do, just like learning about terrible things that happened in history, doesn't mean those things are GOOD THINGS. These can be teachable moments, about why that kind of behavior isn't okay. I mean, sheesh, we all read Goofus and Gallant in Highlights when we were kids, did Goofus inspire us to all go start misbehaving? An ELEVEN year old can read about complex characters and understand why their decisions are terrible, and that's an important part of growing up.

I would feel very different if it was some kind of comedic book about how slapping women around is funny or something. Because it's not. But a novel with bad people or people who do bad things? Sounds like an excellent learning experience and jumping off point of discussion.

Anonymous wrote:This is for middle schoolers?

Totally reasonable. You cannot bubble wrap your kids from everything out in the world, and you certainly can't at ages 11-13. If you're concerned, read the books they read and talk about it with them. Literature is a great (and safe!) way to be exposed to different experiences, even really awful negative ones or explicit ones or ones that don't tie neatly into "good" or "bad." Don't you want them to learn about the holocaust? And slavery? You can't paint the whole world with rainbows and sunshine. They aren't little kids anymore.

The question is, if a girl said she was looking forward to getting home so she could suck off her boyfriend, would that be okay? What about kids using the word dick in the classroom? And what about a guy saying if his girlfriend annoys him then he might slap her a bit? If we wouldn’t tolerate those things from our kids then I don’t see why they should be reading it.

We are MCPS. Kids haven't had books all year.

Common Sense Media’s suggested age was 14 for this book.

This is for middle schoolers?

Totally reasonable. You cannot bubble wrap your kids from everything out in the world, and you certainly can't at ages 11-13. If you're concerned, read the books they read and talk about it with them. Literature is a great (and safe!) way to be exposed to different experiences, even really awful negative ones or explicit ones or ones that don't tie neatly into "good" or "bad." Don't you want them to learn about the holocaust? And slavery? You can't paint the whole world with rainbows and sunshine. They aren't little kids anymore.

If normalizing is the concern, remove all fantasy books too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I couldn't get past 8 seconds. There was a thread recently discussing how the books for middle schoolers had rape, cutting, abuse, etc. one side was "wtf?" the other side was "your precious snowflake should know about these things".

Even if most middle schoolers know about some of those things, that’s completely different to normalizing it as every day occurrences in a school book.

Is stuff in a school book "normalized"? I read "A Rose for Emily" in school but that didn't normalize necrophilia.

If everything you read and discuss in English class is about horrifically depressing stuff, then it's normalized. Imagine just reading The Kite Runner for 10 straight months, even as an adult.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I couldn't get past 8 seconds. There was a thread recently discussing how the books for middle schoolers had rape, cutting, abuse, etc. one side was "wtf?" the other side was "your precious snowflake should know about these things".

Even if most middle schoolers know about some of those things, that’s completely different to normalizing it as every day occurrences in a school book.

Yeah, I'm in the wtf?! group.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I couldn't get past 8 seconds. There was a thread recently discussing how the books for middle schoolers had rape, cutting, abuse, etc. one side was "wtf?" the other side was "your precious snowflake should know about these things".

Even if most middle schoolers know about some of those things, that’s completely different to normalizing it as every day occurrences in a school book.

Is stuff in a school book "normalized"? I read "A Rose for Emily" in school but that didn't normalize necrophilia.

My jaw is on the floor.

Anonymous wrote:I couldn't get past 8 seconds. There was a thread recently discussing how the books for middle schoolers had rape, cutting, abuse, etc. one side was "wtf?" the other side was "your precious snowflake should know about these things".

Even if most middle schoolers know about some of those things, that’s completely different to normalizing it as every day occurrences in a school book.

I couldn't get past 8 seconds. There was a thread recently discussing how the books for middle schoolers had rape, cutting, abuse, etc. one side was "wtf?" the other side was "your precious snowflake should know about these things".

PSA that we should all be checking the material that our kids are reading. Just because it's recommended by the school doesn't mean it's appropriate for children.