Mom: Assigned book pornography

gypsy librarian says:

On yet another book challenge
It does seem like another “know it all” mom. They read a couple of pages and suddenly it becomes a scandal. Of course, my bet is someone told her what the pages were so she could find them. I don’t mind if someone chooses not to read a book; it is perfectly within their right. However, I wish they would stop trying to tell everyone else what to read or not to read. It’s not her “job” or the job of these other people with clearly too much time on their hands to be telling me what I can or not read. Don’t want to read it? That is perfectly fine, leave it alone. But I don’t need the likes of you or anyone like you to try to deprive me of my reading choices.

gypsy librarian says:

Re:Never any excerpts
No, they do not. I did notice that the student in question was denied an alternate reading, according to the article. This I think was “walking into a trap.” I am all for expanding horizons, and the book choice does sound like one to do just that. But if the student and parent objected, they should have given the student an alternate selection. I still think the parent should not be trying to dictate to the whole class though.

gypsy librarian says:

Re:Never any excerpts
Oh, I did see it was an IB class, but often in most classes a student is given an alternate text when such a situation arises. Not that I agree with it; I think the better option is the one you suggest of simply withdrawing from the class if they can’t handle a little maturity and rationality. However, it is often the way to cope or cover bases (or CYA for the school and teacher) to do the alternate text route. You also make a good point: learning and growing will involve dealing with things which may not be comfortable. Seems mom just wants to stay in her little bubble, as the Grumpy reader below mentions.