Challenged in BC: Perks of Being a Wallflower.

From the CBC:

The Kamloops School District has decided not to ban a novel some parents have called vulgar and pornographic, but one concerned father says the fight isn't over.

Two months ago when the novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower was assigned to his son's grade 10 class, Dean Audet objected that the book was pornographic.

A committee made up of teachers, a parent and librarians recently reviewed the novel and gave it a passing grade.

But Audet says he isn't backing down and is now considering legal action.    

I read Perks pretty recently, and wow. If Audet describes it as pornographic, he must find network television completely appalling.

Anyway, the weirdest thing about this entire story? Is the book the school gave as an alternate: Rick Riordan's Son of Neptune. 

Comments

[dangermom]

...Son of Neptune?? For a 10th grader? I thought the usual thing was to assign something a bit harder.

[Leila]

My impression is that the usual thing is to assign something older, a "classic" that shares some of the same themes, but w/o the profanity or the sexual content or the violence or the racial slurs or the political mindset or the worldview that the challenger is objecting to.

[dangermom]

That was my impression as well. How odd to assign a kid's fantasy novel.

[Mark]

Even funnier: In a later book in the series a secondary character admits to having romantic feelings for a same-sex major character (which is what I am betting the parent had issues with anyway). Maybe whoever chose this book as a replacement is the one having the last laugh.