Children’s book outrages parents — themorningcall.com
Storytime ceased abruptly when the picture book Eileen Issa was reading her 2 1/2-year-old son surprisingly ended with two men marrying and smooching.
The tale about a disgruntled queen who demanded that her son marry a princess looked like the average children’s book to the mother of two when she scooped it up along with about nine others at the Lower Macungie Library. She had no idea the book has been the subject of a federal lawsuit and controversy in other parts of the country. Since that day, Issa and her husband, Jeff, have demanded that the library take it out of circulation. The book will remain on the shelf despite the Issas’ complaints and about 40 signatures they’ve gathered from residents who agree. The library’s board of directors on Thursday denied the couple’s request for the second time and the township supervisors, who appoint the library directors, have chosen not to overrule the decision.
”I just want kids to enjoy their innocence and their time of growing up,” Jeff Issa said, explaining his persistence. ”Let them be kids and not worry about homosexuality, race, religion. Just let them live freely as kids.” ”King & King” is in the children’s corner of the library. The only mention of its homosexual content is a small reference on the copyright page. The library’s computer system also notes the classification.
I have mixed feelings about this, banning this book is one thing, but seriously, should it be in the children’s section of the library?
I have mixed feelings about this, banning this book is one thing, but seriously, should it be in the children’s section of the library?
Probably not. But, do you really think it’s any worse than the bible that many parents subject their children to? Have you read about Lot screwing his two daughters? Have you read all of the genocide in Deuteronomy and Joshua?
I guess the bible isn’t found in the children’s section either. However, children are sent to specific schools to read it. How do you feel about that?
I do like Jeff’s statement about kids reading though:
”I just want kids to enjoy their innocence and their time of growing up,” Jeff Issa said, explaining his persistence. ”Let them be kids and not worry about homosexuality, race, religion. Just let them live freely as kids.”
It’s a mostly great statement. I would say though that there is no reason to hide them from homosexuality either. They are still going to come in contact with other children who have either two mommies or two daddies.
Just as kids in most of America know other kids – of different colors, of families with differing creeds – you’re kidding yourself if you think they don’t notice different gender relationships. If it ain’t in your neighborhood – are you supposed to tell them it doesn’t exist?
It’s like the obverse side of the tooth fairy and the easter bunny. When they discover the reality are you prepared to explain why you made stuff up?
I don’t believe in the banning of any book. If a community has a problem with a book, then maybe the placemet of the book could be looked at.
I agree this book is inappropriate to be left on the shelf in the childrens corner. It should be placed where under 12 or maybe 14 y/o’s do not free access to.
#1…Misanthropic Scott….I resent the implication that I was involved in genocide. 🙂
I get it. Because you’re name is Joshua.
#12…Moss….no one here is advocating making up stories or lying to the children. The father in this incident has the right attitude. If your kid brings up the subject, then an honest explanation of the topic, age appropriate, should be given.
We seem to be regressing as to allowing children to be children. Once children were used as worker’s and worse, but eventually we started regarding them as children and the protect them at all costs attitude’s became the norm. Now we seem to be going back to an attitude that they should be faced with all of the adult subjects of life. I don’t agree.
>>do you really think it’s any worse than the
>>bible that many parents subject their children
>>to? Have you read about Lot screwing his two
>>daughters?
If you had gone to Sunday school, Scottie (either Atheist or Christian), you would know that no children ever actually read the Bible. They read cartoonish, colored-with-crayons distillations of the Bible, eliminating all the fornication, stoning, incest, genocide, etc. Most grownups don’t even actually READ the Bible, as a lot of it is virtually undigestible (at least without a rabbi to explain it). They read what somebody else thinks about the Bible.
That said, I think this King & King thing is a little on the creepy side for ages 6 and up (the target demographic, according to amazon dot com). It raises questions about sexuality that kindergarteners may not be equipped to deal with. There are plenty of stories suitable for 6-year-olds that don’t get into sexuality and marriage.
We can’t support homosexuality. Jesus will be mad and won’t help us kill our enemies.
>>We can’t support homosexuality. Jesus
>>will be mad
If you think Jesus will be mad about us supporting fags, you ignorant slut, you’ve been reading the wrong Bible.
it seems to me as if this is a problem of personal responsible. why would a person not prescreen what their children read? you shouldn’t just expect people to have the same value systerm as you do.
Lighten up there Mustard. You sound like you may be a recipient of the “hot beef injection.” I don’t care for the bible, or any other fiction for that matter.
>>why would a person not prescreen what
>>their children read?
Well, I sure as shit didn’t read every page of every “See Jane run” book my kids read when they were growing up. I seriously doubt that anyone (other than maybe the home-schooler set) do that.
comhcinc, have you ever tried to prescreen everything your kids read – or everything you read to your kids? My one child will read for hours each day. She has books she reads in class at school; she has books she reads at home. She reads horse books and historical fiction and cat books and encyclopedias and on and on. And then there’s the matter of whether the kid will finish all the books she takes out – or the ones you get for her. No way you can screen them all.
>>You sound like you may be a recipient of
>>the “hot beef injection.”
Gosh. You homophobes are out in force this evening, arencha?
so if you don’t want to take responsibility for the media (in this case books but i think we can include all mass media) that your child has access to, then who should do it?
i don’t want to give up that power. my moral values are different than yours and likewise. so who’s standards should apply? this is just a really scary road to travel down.
look at this story for example. the child wasn’t even reading the book. the book was being read to the child by the mother. when i read to my child i read over the story first so i can speak in a nice manner and also in case there is something in the book i don’t like.
i’ve read thousands of books in my life. that’s plenty of a backlog to give to my child where i screen any new books she may pick up
McCullough, would it be ok in the children’s section if the prince married a woman and they lived happily ever after? So one orientation is ok to present to a child and not another.
What is your answer if your child asks you about the two men who live together on your block? Children don’t need to know sexual practices of either orientation at this age. Simple responses such as ‘some men like women and some men like men’ are all they need at this age.
To prevent this book from being in the children’s section simply imposes your bigotry to the next generation.
>>i’ve read thousands of books in my
>>life. that’s plenty of a backlog to
>>give to my child where i screen any
>>new books she may pick up
Well great. If you have a backlog of thousands of books from 50 years ago that you can find in the library and that your six-year-old child can read, I guess you’re good to go.
Most of us don’t have that impressive a literary history, that good a memory, and most of the books from Kindergarten are no longer in print.
Having said that, I don’t think this whole teapot-tempest is that big a deal. They could move the book out of the toilet-training section, and that would take care of things. And if not, bfd. So some parents have to explain rump-wrangling and fudge packing to their kids a few years earlier than they were intending. I’d rather do that than to try and explain why George Dumbya Bush went to war.
again Mister Mastard i’ll ask you if you don’t want to take responsibility for the books that your child has access to, then who should do it?
Good for the library! The parent who complained;
”I just want kids to enjoy their innocence and their time of growing up,” Jeff Issa said, explaining his persistence. ”Let them be kids and not worry about homosexuality, race, religion. Just let them live freely as kids.”
Wonder when he will get around to trying to get “The Chronicles of Narnia” banned.
Naaahhh.
I can understand the deep seated need of parents to protect their children from “harmful” things – its part of our genes, but what is “harmful” is all in the eye of the beholder – keeping your children “innocent” for too long can have unforseen consequences.
People who want to ban this book are the same sort of prejudiced fuckers who think “little black samba” was racist propoganda. Aka, they are petty and weak-minded.
>>then who should do it?
The people who are responsible for the placement of the book.
I let my daughters go see plenty of Disney movies and other G-rated fare with their friends (which I did not [gasp!] “pre-screen”). I would have been disappointed if the movie turned out to be about a 10-year-old girl getting fucked by a German Shephard.
By the same token, I let my kids eat and drink lots of things in restaurants and at friends’ houses that I did not pre-eat. Imagine my chagrin if the chocolate milk contained single-malt scotch, or the desert brownies contained hashish.
I agree that people have to take responsibility for what their children are exposed to, but if you’re suggesting that they have to pre-live every aspect of the kids’ lives to make sure that a municipal organization (like the city library) isn’t slipping “Lassie Fucks Missy” into the kids’ DVD collection, you’re a nut.
>>keeping your children “innocent” for too
>>long can have unforseen consequences.
Hey Tally, I used to take my kids to the Chicago Gay Pride parade when the youngest one was still in a stroller. But I’m still a little creeped out by unwitting parents having to explain butt-fucking and muff-munching when their kid takes a book out of the pre-schooler section of the library.
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Mister Muster none of your examples are valid. you discrible child pornograph, underage drinking, and drug use. also you examples all deal things that it would be illegal to expose a child to.
this book does nothing like that. this book has one scene that some people may object to while others,(as you can see by the messages) don’t object to. it’s a values judgement. who is to say which values systerm is correct?
and really how hard was it for the parents to screen this book? the child is 2 years old. the mother was the one to pick the book out. the mother then read the book to the child. how did she not now how the book ended before telling it to the child?
I don’t get the fuss….it just said that they “married” and lived happily ever after. It didn’t show them f**king for go*sakes! Wholy shit..what is wrong with people? How many 6 year olds have you had a conversation with, lately? Little boys OFTEN talk about “marrying” their mummy, or their bestest friends, or the teacher (man or woman) or their dog…. Married is just a word. And, there is no real gender bias. Little kids seem to have no real “oh my gosh, gasp” when another kid says “yeah, I have two moms…” or “Dad and Dad took me out last weekend to the park”. Other kids just say, “oh. Huh. My dog licks his butt.” They don’t attach much importance to the situation.
NOW…for the parents to FREAK OUT about a story book…what losers. Do they also freak out about Cinderella..and “living happily ever after” or Goldilocks’ three bears had a nice house, no mortgage. How does that work? What about ANY kids books?!! They’re all just stories.
What is wrong with this world?
Chill out, Cochise. Since the woman was reading a book designed for the 6-and-up set to her two-year-old child, I guess she’s got no room to complain.
However, I think books that raise obvious questions about homosexuality aren’t really appropriate for 6-year-olds, much less 2.5-year-olds.
At the end of the day though, I don’t really care. I think it’s creepy that they put a book like that in the Kiddie Section (which is all I’ve been saying right along), but it’s really not a bfd.
I’da read the opus to my kids, and not blinked an eye. Not everyone feels that way, however. And I think a municipally-funded organization like the town library might be a little more discreet.
And if the woman is reading books intended for 6-year-olds to her 2-year-old, I wonder if she will be taking her 6-year-olds to R and NR-17 movies.
what about the children of gay parents Mister Mustard? their money funds the libary in that town just like all the staight parents. is it right that they not be represented in the town libary? should they be excluded due to someone else’s value judgement? i think not.
remember this isn’t being forced unto anyone. it’s simple there for people to enjoy, if they so wish.
#21 – MM – ok, be creeped out, it doesnt bother me in the slightest
>>what about the children of gay parents
>>Mister Mustard?
If the children of gay parents want, for some reason, to discuss their fellatio and cunnilingus experiences with their children at 2 1/2 years of age, more power to ’em. I just think that pasty-white suburbanites should be given some warning if they’re going to have to explain fudge-packing and muff-diving to their pre-school children as a result of books they take out of the Kiddie Section of the town library.
As I mentioned, I used to take all my kids to the Gay Pride parade even before they could walk. That was my decision, however. And somehow, they all managed to grow up to be heterosexual secular/ non-religous adults.
So al fin y al cabo, I don’t think it really makes much difference what the kids read. If I had a choice between book burning and letting the kids read about Lassie fucking Missie, I’d go with the latter. I just think it would be nice if the town library used a little discretion.
Some of these comments are, without a doubt some of the worst I’ve seen here on DU.
#30 >>some…some
Yours included, cabrón. At least the rest of us have something to say.
Big Smiley Face 🙂