A book that depicts masturbation, pedophilia and anti-Christian ideology has prompted parents to raise a ruckus in Texas, according to a recent report in The Christian Post..The book Blankets, an autobiographical graphic novel by Craig Thompson, also includes full frontal nudity of children and teenagers, sexual abuse and boys peeing on each other..Goodreads describes the 2003 book as “the story of a young man coming of age” in “a portrait of small town life, a rigorously fundamentalist Christian childhood, and a lonely, emotionally mixed-up adolescence.”.One page has an illustration of an NIV Bible with the text, “Upon moving out of my parents home, I made a conscious effort to leave my Bible behind. It was the book of Ecclesiastes that prompted me to do so.".Elsewhere in the book, a Jerry Falwell-like man tells a young character named Craig, “Frankly, it may be that scribes ‘tacked’ their own comments onto the original text over centuries of transcribing. But don’t let that discredit God’s Word. Instead, recognize this as a growth process of the Bible.”.Craig says, “for me — their truth was cancelled out.".In another section, a character says, “I still believe in God, the teachings of Jesus even, but the rest of Christianity, its Bible, its churches, its dogma, only sets up boundaries between people and cultures. It denies the beauty of being human and it ignores all these gaps that need to be filled in by the individual.”.Fort Worth parent activist Hollie Plemmsons shared images of the book on social media on August 1 and said it was available in libraries in the Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD)..Plemmons said the district’s library director “refused to remove the book,” which upset her..“The students are other people’s children, they do not belong to the district! Parents have rights & currently they are being completely trampled by FWISD. We also have laws & FWISD is not following current laws in keeping this adult book on shelves,” she said..A FWISD spokesperson told The Christian Post in August the district is “currently reviewing” guidelines and more information should be available after the school year begins..Another parent claimed to find the book at McKinney Boyd High School in McKinney ISD, a North Texas school district located about 50 km north of Dallas. The school district did not respond to a request for comment from the Post. By now, the school’s link to Blankets does not function..In July, parents and independent journalists uncovered three books available in Fort Worth schools featuring explicit content, including Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe, Flamer by Mike Curato, and Wait, What?: A Comic Book Guide to Relationships, Bodies, and Growing Up by Isabella Rotman..Rotman’s Wait, What?, found in three elementary schools in mid-July, includes drawings of genitals along with a “weird platypus” who says, “It’s okay to be weird.” By August, all three books were no longer available on the Fort Worth ISD website. By now, the link to the book Blankets on the McKinney ISD no longer functions..A statewide battle over school books erupted in April 2022 when the Texas Education Agency issued school guidelines on obscene content. Here, school librarians and staff are "encouraged" to make book selections available for parental review and to respond to parental feedback..This has ironically led some parents to file challenges against the Bible and other classic books for “inappropriate” content..Under House Bill 900, passed during the state’s last legislative session, books in public schools and other public libraries must be rated and removed if they contain obscene content. The bill went into effect September 1.
A book that depicts masturbation, pedophilia and anti-Christian ideology has prompted parents to raise a ruckus in Texas, according to a recent report in The Christian Post..The book Blankets, an autobiographical graphic novel by Craig Thompson, also includes full frontal nudity of children and teenagers, sexual abuse and boys peeing on each other..Goodreads describes the 2003 book as “the story of a young man coming of age” in “a portrait of small town life, a rigorously fundamentalist Christian childhood, and a lonely, emotionally mixed-up adolescence.”.One page has an illustration of an NIV Bible with the text, “Upon moving out of my parents home, I made a conscious effort to leave my Bible behind. It was the book of Ecclesiastes that prompted me to do so.".Elsewhere in the book, a Jerry Falwell-like man tells a young character named Craig, “Frankly, it may be that scribes ‘tacked’ their own comments onto the original text over centuries of transcribing. But don’t let that discredit God’s Word. Instead, recognize this as a growth process of the Bible.”.Craig says, “for me — their truth was cancelled out.".In another section, a character says, “I still believe in God, the teachings of Jesus even, but the rest of Christianity, its Bible, its churches, its dogma, only sets up boundaries between people and cultures. It denies the beauty of being human and it ignores all these gaps that need to be filled in by the individual.”.Fort Worth parent activist Hollie Plemmsons shared images of the book on social media on August 1 and said it was available in libraries in the Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD)..Plemmons said the district’s library director “refused to remove the book,” which upset her..“The students are other people’s children, they do not belong to the district! Parents have rights & currently they are being completely trampled by FWISD. We also have laws & FWISD is not following current laws in keeping this adult book on shelves,” she said..A FWISD spokesperson told The Christian Post in August the district is “currently reviewing” guidelines and more information should be available after the school year begins..Another parent claimed to find the book at McKinney Boyd High School in McKinney ISD, a North Texas school district located about 50 km north of Dallas. The school district did not respond to a request for comment from the Post. By now, the school’s link to Blankets does not function..In July, parents and independent journalists uncovered three books available in Fort Worth schools featuring explicit content, including Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe, Flamer by Mike Curato, and Wait, What?: A Comic Book Guide to Relationships, Bodies, and Growing Up by Isabella Rotman..Rotman’s Wait, What?, found in three elementary schools in mid-July, includes drawings of genitals along with a “weird platypus” who says, “It’s okay to be weird.” By August, all three books were no longer available on the Fort Worth ISD website. By now, the link to the book Blankets on the McKinney ISD no longer functions..A statewide battle over school books erupted in April 2022 when the Texas Education Agency issued school guidelines on obscene content. Here, school librarians and staff are "encouraged" to make book selections available for parental review and to respond to parental feedback..This has ironically led some parents to file challenges against the Bible and other classic books for “inappropriate” content..Under House Bill 900, passed during the state’s last legislative session, books in public schools and other public libraries must be rated and removed if they contain obscene content. The bill went into effect September 1.
