… and reveals Librarian asked if he wanted a Graphic Version
The 11-year-old boy read a sexually explicit excerpt from Nick and Charlie during a school board meeting in Maine. He told attendees that he got the book from his middle school library
The excerpt he read recounted a sexual interaction between a 17-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man.
His father, Adam Zajac, also addressed the board during the Windham Raymond School District meeting on February 14, telling attendees that his son had also been asked by the librarian if he wanted a graphic novel version of the book.
The access of children to certain books has become a divisive issue in America, with some parents encouraging the exposure of children to increasingly modern sexual concepts, and others complaining they are being prematurely sexualized.
The book featured in the Maine meeting was Nick and Charlie by bestselling 28-year-old British author Alice Oseman, which tells the story of a high school relationship.
Her popular book, Heartstopper, which was recently turned into a Netflix series, tells the story of the same pair beginning their relationship aged 15 and 16.
The boy read from the book: ‘We kiss for a long time, like it’s two years ago and we’re on Nick’s lounge sofa trying to watch a film. Impossible.
‘I can’t think about anything else when he’s running his hands so gently through my hair, across my back, over my hips.
‘Suddenly he’s pulling my T-shirt off and laughing when I can’t undo his shirt buttons, I’m asking if he wants to and he’s saying yes before I’ve even finished my sentence, he’s undoing my belt, I’m reaching into his bedside drawer for a condom, we’re kissing again, we’re rolling over, obviously you can see where this is going.’
The book is recommended by the publisher, Harper Collins – for students aged 13 and older.
After the boy delivered the passage, his father came to the lectern…
‘I’m that kid’s father. That’s my son, 11-years-old and went to his library and found it by the entry door of our library. This is the smut that he is finding, alright?’ said the boy’s father.
‘I don’t care whether it’s gay, straight, bisexual, or whatever the terms are for all of this stuff – it doesn’t need to be at our school. It doesn’t need to be at my 11-year-old’s library,’ he added.
‘A lot of parents just don’t know what’s going on in the school,’ Zajac, told The Maine Wire. ‘What I don’t understand is how we have books in the middle school library that adults would be fired for having at work, or potentially prosecuted for sharing with children given their pornographic content.’
This passage in the book is the scene that was read out during the meeting on February 14
Nick and Charlie by bestselling 28-year-old British author Alice Oseman tells the story of a high school relationship
Another book that was brought up in the meeting was called Gender Queer, and taken out from the district’s high school library, Zajac claimed. It is rated for ages 18 and older.
Amazon’s online store lists Nick and Charlie as being appropriate for readers aged 14 and above and for students in grades between 9 and 12.
Oseman has published a number of teen books and graphic novels that explore LGBTQ+ themes.
Written by Neirin Gray Desai for The Daily Mail ~ February 28, 2022