A recurring theme for stories in the Washington Post concerns Virginia parents who protest against books they do not believe should be taught to their children. Here’s the headline for a story in today’s paper:
A mom wrongly said the book showed pedophilia. School libraries banned it.
The Post story reports on how some parents erroneously believed the book contained an act of pedophilia and hence worked to get the book banned from their children’s school. (It turns out, two men in their 20s meet and recall when they had oral sex as fourth-graders, so it’s not pedophilia, but sex between minors.)
Mother Stacy Langton got the details wrong, the story noted, when she said “the book describes a fourth-grade boy performing oral sex on an adult male” and called it “pedophilia.”
The Post loves this story and has printed many iterations of it. Stupid parents. Enlightened educators. Unappreciated works of literature.
And guess what. Even without the pedophilia angle, some parents still aren’t happy that their kids’ schools contain a book about two fourth-graders having sex. They’re sooooo unsophisticated.
“What sort of diversity are you intending to teach my child with material like this?” asked one mother. “Who normalizes sex acts between fourth-graders?”
Pesky detail buried a third way into the story: Joanthan Evison, author of the book, “Lawn Boy,” doesn’t think the book should be read by fourth graders. As the Post reports, Evison stated, “Noboby below a teenager is ready for that book. It’s got a lot of adult stuff.”
Adult stuff. This is the context that frequently has been ignored in stories about the book wars — or at best rated a few paragraphs without much of a nod to the age issue. So let’s remember one thing:
Most parents don’t think it’s appropriate for elementary school books to contain explicit sexual material. And that goes double for 10-year-olds. Some parents don’t want their teenagers to read books with explicit sex as well. That is their right as parents. Maybe, just maybe, they know what is best for their children.
That isn’t a culture war issue. It’s common sense.
Debra J. Saunders is a senior fellow at the Chapman Center for Citizen Leadership. Contact her at dsaunders@discovery.org.
Addendum.
A reader suggested that I link to Evinson’s essay on the controversy, which I shall do. Short version: “It is worth noting that the book, which was intended for an adult audience, found some crossover success due in part to winning an Alex Award from the ALA’s Young Adult Library Servies Association for “books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18″.
Here’s the link: https://blog.algonquin.com/jonathan-evison-on-the-attacks-on-his-novel-lawn-boy/
Comments welcome