Midlands school board considers restricting graphic novel about substance abuse
A parent in a Midlands school district is challenging a school library book about substance abuse after it was checked out by her elementary school-aged daughter.
The Lexington-Richland 5 school board on Monday will hear the latest challenge to reading material in one of its schools, after a mother filed a complaint against the book she found in the library at Piney Woods Elementary School.
“The book had the cutest cover,” the parent wrote in her complaint. “The back of the book gave a broad overview of the book that did not include any discouraging content. Just pure fun and enjoyable reading.”
But she later noticed her daughter reading a page that included an image of a character smoking. She then read the book herself and found other examples of drinking, drug use and physical violence. She shared images of the pages she objected to in the complaint.
The book — “Sunny Side Up” by Jennifer Holm, with illustrations by Matthew Holm — is about a girl named Sunny sent to live with her grandfather in Florida over the summer, while her family back home deals with her brother’s substance abuse issues.
“While I understand the value of presenting relatable experiences, I am concerned that the themes and lack of resolution are not developmentally appropriate for children as young as five years old,” the complaint reads. “In my view, this book would be more suitable as a resource kept by a school counselor and potentially shared with older students who are better equipped to process and contextualize the subject matter.”
District policy allows any parent to challenge the material available to students in school, and then the school board will hear the challenge during a public session to determine if the offending material should be removed or restricted. Under state law, a parent can also appeal a decision up to the state board of education, which can potentially remove a book from school library shelves statewide.
In her complaint, the mother asks that the book be restricted to certain grade levels, if a student’s parent or guardian consents to them reading it.
“Additionally, I understand that this book is part of a series,” she continues. “Although I have not reviewed the other titles, I recommend that they also be evaluated for similar content and appropriateness for the intended age group.”
Book bans in public schools have become a lightning rod in recent years. The same school district previously removed the fantasy series “A Court of Thorns and Roses” after a parent challenged sexual content in one book in the series, “A Court of Mist and Fury.”
Last year, the Chapin-Irmo area district removed and then returned a picture book biography of tennis great Billie Jean King in which King mentions being married to another woman. A neighboring district in Lexington 1 also considered and rejected an attempt to ban “The Hunger Games.”
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