WARNING: MATURE CONTENT; Molestation, insertion with lube, "head," dry humping
EXCERPTS:
page 266:
page 271:
“I had previously topped someone who clearly enjoyed it, but he had been enjoying anal sex before I ever came along. He knew what to expect. I didn’t. As an avid porn watcher, the only thing I knew about anal sex previously was that it was painful or at least played up as such on the cameras."
"Nervous and drunk, I listened and got on my stomach. He got on top and slowly inserted himself into me. It was the worst pain I think I had ever felt in my life. He then added more lube and tried again…”
For the sake of brevity, the following are abbreviated.
page 201: “You were fully erect at this point and I was nervous…You then grabbed my hand and made me touch it. It was the first time I had ever touched a penis that wasn’t my own.”
WHAT'S BEEN DONE
Rockwood has declined to remove this book or restrict access in any way to minors.
Parents challenged it in November of 2021 and the review committee voted to retain it without restriction.
Parents appealed. The decision to keep the book with no restrictions for minors was upheld.
The book is in all four of Rockwood's high schools.
Rockwood says it's an important book to have in school libraries because it provides a "diverse" perspective. (It is written by a gay black man.)
Rockwood review committee:
"I loved the Book! My children are going to be encouraged to read it. Even though I did not experience any of these things in my life, I would encourage every teen to read this book because of the insight into somebody else's life and for those who did experience it to give them a voice."
WHAT OTHER DISTRICTS HAVE DONE
All Boys Aren't Blue has been removed from school libraries in 8 states:
(IA, FL, MO, PA, KS, AR, VA, TX)
The Wentzville school district removed "All Boys Aren't Blue" from school libraries, but, is being sued by the ACLU.
In one Florida district, the superintendent overruled the review committee and said the book will NOT be going back on school shelves despite the committee’s decision.
'All Boys Aren't Blue' book will not return to Flagler Schools media center shelves
Here's a link about what's happened in Iowa.
RESTRICTION POLICIES
Rockwood says parents can restrict access to books for their kids.
What the district doesn’t say is the procedures for doing so are not reasonable:
To restrict a certain title, parents have to first know the title.
The only list of titles provided by the district is a list of books that are approved for class assignments. “All Boys Aren’t Blue” is not on that list. In fact, 90% of what’s in the district's libraries is not on that list.
Parents in Rockwood heard about "All Boys Aren't Blue" because it had been banned in other school districts. That prompted them to look it up in Rockwood libraries, and found it.
Rockwood says parents can restrict all books labeled "Young Adult," which this book is.
However, books that are acceptable will also be restricted. “Young Adult” includes content that ranges from, essentially, PG-13 to Rated R. Books on UFOs and NBA players are also “Young Adult.”
Rockwood's head librarian Margaret Sullivan told us that, to restrict the whole YA category, means parents are basically keeping their kids out the libraries entirely. In fact, nearly all 5,000 titles in the high school libraries are “Young Adult.”
Parents don't want to restrict all reading; they just want to keep their children from reading detailed sex acts in books at school. Many have suggested a new policy that categorizes books in a more discerning way, such as what the books contain: sex acts, profanity, violence, etc. like the ratings for movies.
Title: “All Boys Aren’t Blue”
Author: George M. Johnson
Status:
Kids as young as 14 years old can check this out of our high school libraries.
Note:
This is NOT about a book “ban.”
It's about what's appropriate at school.