Sex, alcohol and vulgarity: put a book with those themes right at the top of our summer reading list. Oh, and put it on the list for all incoming high school freshmen, too.
So said the faculty at Antioch High School, but some parents are questioning the mature themes in “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," saying the novel isn't appropriate for 13 and 14-year-olds. Because everyone knows kids don't have sex. Or swear.
The book is required summer reading for Antioch High School incoming freshmen. It's about a 14-year-old American Indian's trials in an all-white school, and it describes sex acts and uses some racist language. The main character has to struggle through problems much like those incoming freshman will face, according to John Whitehurst, Antioch High School English department chairman.
But parents at the District 117 School Board meeting Thursday discussed the possibility of banning the book from the curriculum or including a warning label in the book’s cover.
"I can't imagine anyone finding this book appropriate for a 13 or 14-year-old," Jennifer Andersen, whose 14-year-old son will be a freshman this fall, told the Chicago Tribune. "I have not met a single parent who is not shocked by this. This is not appropriate for our community."
But District 117 officials announced Monday that the book will remain required reading, and there is an alternative book for students whose parents do not approve of the selected title.
District Supt. Jay Sabatino said that District 117 may issue future warnings for assigned books that contain controversial elements.
Andersen said she worries that if profanity is part of the school’s curriculum, then students will believe the school condones it. But school officials didn't buy that argument.
"That is like saying that because Romeo and Juliet committed teen suicide, we condone teen suicide," Whitehurst said. "Kids know the difference. Like it or not, that is the way 14-year-old boys talk to each other."
Fingers crossed that there are no puppy slayings or prostitution rings come September.
Oh, the power of literature.
