I just want to start this post by saying, I am by no means intending to cause hate or division in our community, or drag any ones name through the mud. I do want to be transparent for our community. I do want change.
My intent was not to shame or stand up and throw a fit, to burn books or ban books, my intent is to have age appropriate reading materials in our school for our children.
In late September of 2022 I filed a FOIA request for a list of the books that are in the school district. I did this for a couple reasons:
1. To hold myself and the school accountable so that either party could not deny or claim false information. No one can claim certain books were never in the library because I have hard copies to prove otherwise. I can not claim some books are in there that are not and have never been in there.
2. To protect myself from lies that have started to spread or about me being a bigot and a book burner. I am not, nor will I stand for that to be the case. There are also a couple different board members that I don't trust to act appropriately, they have called constituents names because they disagree and acted unprofessional.
I elected to keep things as low key as I could, simply to keep a working relationship and less drama. I have endured a two hour long phone call from a board member who reached out to my dad first about me, and called me a liar and said that this would not be a problem, I guess he was mistaken. They have made passive aggressive remarks in my direction but not directly to me because I disagree with things that are happening, and I am vocal about it.
Part of their job according to the "Handbook for Arkansas School Board Members" ...
11. Encourage the free expression of opinion by all board members and seek systematic communications between the board and students, staff, and all elements of the community.
Arkansas School Board page... <=== the link that I pulled the resources from... (cite your sources and all)
While I get that might not be easy all the time, it is still something they need to uphold and I believe have failed at times. While I understand the concept of grace, we forgive because we are forgiven, because we all fail, I do know that it's smart to make sure all your bases are covered. One pastor that I love to listen too was talking about relationships, and I think this applies for most any interaction with others really, and he said, "we have to remember we are a sinner first, and sinned against second". (Pastor and Theologian J.D. Greear)
I set up an appointment with Dr. Long and had a brief discussion surrounding my concerns, he listened and addressed the issues. He did ask if I had list of books, and of course I did, a list of over 100 that gave me pause (the list has grown). I left the list with him as well as the FOIA paper. He agreed to present it to the schools attorney and get back with me. The next day I had a message that they would have the list ready for me and he would let me know when I could swing by and get them.
When I left him the list at first, he didn't feel like many would be found but statistically there would be some, and I agreed. I was not prepared for how many would be on the list. When I went by to get the papers the next day he was polite, ready and willing to help in any way he could, I think he also was not prepared for how many would be on the list. He stated that he shared my concern about age appropriate material being an important issue as well. Through the months we remained in contact, I would email him more titles and he would keep me up to date on what they had been working on, on their end. We have met or talked briefly on the phone as we worked through this issue.
I did have people reach out and I would be honest about what I found and how the school was accommodating and working with me. I did speak out at some meetings and had people reach out wanting to go in guns blazing, so to speak. That's not what I wanted so, I wished them well on their endeavor.
One board member continues to press to get things brought to light and my thoughts were it would bring a harsh reaction to some in the school and that's not what I want. It seems to me, more about how he can show off what they had done to rectify the issue, an issue that should have never been an issue had someone been doing their job properly.
However, I am a firm believer in transparency. I wanted to wait to see how the board and the school would handle the situation. Would they try to hide it? That was one suggestion. One board member suggested to hide the books in an obscure place in the library and then slowly weed them out. I was not ok with that Idea at all and it proved why I needed to file a FOIA.
Shady stuff would be a foot... and that's not okay at all. Before you come at me I know that the one does not represent the whole... calm down.
Now that there is a working goal, and steps being taken to rectify the issue, and boy did I find some issues, I feel that it is time to speak out so the rumors and lies coming in can stop.
Let's lay to rest the question of "Are there obscene and extremely inappropriate books in our libraries in the Mountain Home School District? YES!"
The big questions we need to address now have nothing to do with the people who allowed them in there, but how do we fix the issues now? And how do we keep them from happening in the future?
The fact that it happened means someone didn't do their job, and at this point the who really doesn't matter in my opinion. If you feel like that's the quest for you, then charge on, it's not for me. I'm more worried about the fix.
The fix for now, is a stop from ordering young adult books, as most of the ones in question are of that group. There is an administrative review on many books that I have flagged as well as the librarians. Dr. Long, Mrs. Dewey as well as the Librarians are on board for making our school libraries safe and age appropriate for the young readers of Mountain School District. This is not a burn the books crusade, or who didn't do their job crusade, at least not for me, but a how can we do better, because our kids deserve better.
I mentioned young adult earlier, and it was something that kept coming up. As I continued to dive into this journey I was surprised by the YA tag I kept finding. Young adult in literacy is age 12-20. That seems young to me so I questioned what do the doctors and therapist say young adult age range is? 18- 26 or early 30's in some studies. So doctors and therapists do not agree with the literary world, nor do I. To me it seems preposterous that a 12 year old and a 20 year old would have the same or close to the same understanding as each other to read some of this content. That's all for another post. I dropped the links I used for some info below..... There are others but I don't feel like I need to up load them all. I'm sure you get the point with what's available or you can search it out yourself! If you find conflicting data please let me know, I'm eager to learn.
Institute of Medicine and National Research Council
Young Adult Literature
I also want to add; this is not just a "Mountain Home Arkansas School" problem... This is a State and National problem. I can't fix the State, or the Nation, but I can start right here in our community with our kids and then we will see from there.
I have no desire to burn books, ban books or go crazy... I do believe we can do better for our kids in the school. If you want your kids to read some of these that I will share later, then by all means go for it! That's all you, and I believe that's where it needs to be, in the hand of the parents to make that decision. I believe the school should provide quality age appropriate reading material for our children to foster a love for literacy.
There is talk about policy change and talk about restructuring systems that can be in place in the coming years. For me that's a win and I appreciate all the work that Dr. Long, Mrs. Dewey and the Librarians have put in when this issue was brought to light.
And that's where we are....
Now to the books... I will warn you they are graphic in nature and when some parents put them on Facebook they were flagged for inappropriate, which seems ironic because they are in our school library. I will also add a link to the schools page to go to the library so you can check out what's in there. I would recommend parents get to know what your kids are reading.
MHSD Library
I will also relay that there are bills that our legislators are working on that would make it illegal for some of these as they can and should be considered pornographic.
Now others may want different books pulled for different reasons but these are the ones and the ones like it that I would like addressed and have been to this point. Who knows where the road will take us.
I would also add that this is a small portion of what has been found.
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The first is in EBook Form along with paper and recording so you can listen...
MHHS is the print version:
THE KITE RUNNER Adult Summary of Concerns: This book contains explicit sexual activities including sexual assault and battery; prostitution involving minors and adults; explicit violence; and mild profanity. By Khaled Hosseini ISBN: 9781101217238
Page Content.
Page 7 He handed the cigarette to the guy next to him, made a circle with the thumb and index finger of one hand. Poked the middle finger of his other hand through the circle. Poked it in and out. In and out. “I knew your mother, did you know that? I knew her real good. I took her from behind by that creek over there.” The soldiers laughed. One of them made a squealing sound. I told Hassan to keep walking. “What a tight little sugary cunt she had!” the soldier was saying, shaking hands with the others, grinning.
Page. 75 Hassan lay with his chest pinned to the ground. Kamal and Wali each gripped an arm, twisted and bent at the elbow so that Hassan's hands were pressed to his back. Assef was standing over them, the heel of his snow boots crushing the back of Hassan's neck. ..."All I want you weaklings to do is hold him down. Can you manage that?” Wali and Kamal nodded. They looked relieved. Assef knelt behind Hassan, put his hands on Hassan’s hips and lifted his bare buttocks. He kept one hand on Hassan’s back and undid his own belt buckle with his free hand unzipped his jeans. Dropped his underwear. He positioned himself behind Hassan. Hassan didn’t struggle. Didn’t even whimper. He moved his head slightly and I caught a glimpse of his face. Saw the resignation in it. It was a look I had seen before. It was the look of the lamb. …I stopped watching, turning away from the ally. Something warm was running down my wrist. I blinked, saw I was still biting down on my fist, hard enough to draw blood from the knuckles. I realized something else. I was weeping. From just around the corner, I could hear Assef’s quick, rhythmic grunts
Page 77 I stopped watching, turning away from the ally. Something warm was running down my wrist. I blinked, saw I was still biting down on my fist, hard enough to draw blood from the knuckles. I realized something else. I was weeping. From just around the corner, I could hear Assef’s quick, rhythmic grunts
Page 115 Karim cleared his throat, dropped his head. Said the soldier wanted a half hour with the lady in the back of the truck. ...“It’s his price for letting us pass.” Karim said. He couldn’t bring himself to look the husband in the eye. “But we’ve paid a fair price already. He’s getting paid good money,” the husband said. Karim and the Russian soldier spoke. “He says... he says every price has a tax.”
Page 116 My mind flashed to that winter day six years ago. Me peering around the corner in the alley. Kamal and Wali holding Hassan down. Assef’s buttock muscles clenching and unclenching, his hips thrusting back and forth.
Page120 Then he told Baba about Kamal. I caught only snippets of it: Should have never let him go alone... always so handsome, you know... four of them... tried to fight... God... took him...bleeding down there... his pants... doesn’t talk anymore...just stares…
Page 255 “There is a Talib official,” he muttered.“ He visits once every month or two. He brings cash with him, not a lot, but better than nothing as all.” His shifty eyes fell on me, rolled away.“ Usually he takes a girl. But not always.” “And you allow this?” Farid said behind me. He was going around the table, closing in on Zaman. “What choice do I have?” Zaman shot back. He pushed himself away from the desk. “You’re the director here,” Farid said. “Your job is to watch over these children.” “There’s nothing I can do to stop it.” “You’re selling children!” Farid barked
You can read all about this in MHJH 8th and 9th grade
CRANK Young Adult Summary of Concerns: This book contains explicit sexual activities; sexual battery; profanity; and drug abuse. By Ellen Hopkins ISBN: 978-1442471818
Page Content
67 Been smokin' pot since I was 13, couldn't quit if I tried. …The white stuff was a different story. He'd stay up all night, eating zip, bowling and snorting line after line. Rent money, right up the nose.
68 We used to do coke, till "Just Say No" put the stuff out of reach. Now it's crank. Meth. The Monster. It's a bitch on the body but damn do you fly.
69 You fly until you crash
85 So when he asked about getting high, I didn't think, I agreed. We smoked some good California green. Took three tries to put me in the place he said I should be. ...I wanted to meet the monster. Why go down if you can go up? Sleepy. Not "high" at all, but real low. And real slow.
86 Some good green bud around. You're gonna love it. You'll see …Like magic, a mirror and razor blade appeared.
87 I watched him pour powder, yellowish-white. It will take you to heaven. Used the blade to chop the chunks fine, draw two crooked lines. Make you want to fly all night. He held the mirror to my face, handed me a saw toothed straw. Make you want to make love to me. 88 You start to climb crank-crank-crank
89 …that's exactly how it feels when you shake hands with the monster.
92 …he says, Tell me how you feel. So you can't stand it one more second, and you, your eyes, daring him to kiss you. So he does, and it's electric, high voltage, stun-gun strength desire jolting sinew and bone. And he asks, How 'bout another line?
94 If a Little's Good more must be great right?
95 …everything off, nothing left to chance, all the way in?
96 Because it wasn't that it was gentle persuasion. I can't get enough of you. Sweetest coercion. Let me eat you up. Skin to skin, belly to shoulder. Sweet as puddin'. It was body rush after body rush, intensity building. Touch me there. Hot flush, raging blush, quick-start ignition. See how much I need you? Ice flash, instant crash, voices outside the door. No! Don't stop now! …I've got to have all of you. It was hands, exploring taboo places. Oh, God! You're perfect! Lips and tongue, not far behind.
99 We were busted. I was busted. And I didn't give a damn
101 Wha' the fuck you up to, Buddy? …You two been messing' around? …Okay then. Fix me a line.
102 Like an idiot I took one too. …there I was, snorting crank with my dad, boyfriend, and his other girlfriend.
104 Whoa, baby. Keep it in your pants, at least. Till I take it out of them.
113 Yo, I think this bitch has been crankin'. That was license enough. Bodies bumped, pushed me into a doorway, blocked Ever done a three-fer?
114 Hands covered my mouth, rough, held my arms, strong tore my clothes, vicious. Fear danced up my spine, jolted my brain, dripped onto the ground. No! I screamed into dirty flesh. Not this way! Buttons burst, zippers opened, I closed my eyes, braced for pain.
129 Somewhere between the transvestite who slapped (her?) mother's boyfriend and the perky blond (transvestite?) evening weather girl.
138 The monster rose up hard then, hard in her She looked like an animal, crazy mad, diseased Spit in every word, she swore she'd get back at you, at me. …Crankin', they said, and she was. Oh, yes, she was.
161 He pulled a bindle from his pocket, tapped the sparkly powder inside. Cooked up fresh yesterday. …That's my girl. Let's forget the bullshit and fly.
163 Adam took me in his arms kisses melting hurt, forgotten ice Unhurried hands lifted my shirt Pump. Pump. Pump. Passion rose up in my heart and a bit farther south The monster-fueled inferno built thigh to belly button Adam's mouth moved lower, inch by trembling inch I was ready to do it oh, so ready. Right that very instant.
264 You really wanna piss her off, try a piercing. Want to see mine? I couldn't find studs in his ears, lips, or tongue, which pretty much left one place. "Didn't it hurt?" Like a mother. But it feels awesome now. He guided my hand south of his zipper. …Bree was Bree, to Chase's great pleasure. …So want to take a little ride? Got my truck outside.
265 I've got a little toot, if you're so inclined.
266 I mean I'd thought about the monster dreamed about the monster lusted for the monster Page Content regretted knowing the monster but I hadn't touched the monster…in over a month. Hadn't even seen it. …No mirrors, no blades, Chase reached deep inside a pocket, withdrew an amber bottle and a tiny spoon attached to the lid. He set it on his knee.
268 It was the monster desire that made me tremble. Chase noticed.
269 One spoon. I was cool. Two, I was too cool. Three, sub-Arctic. Four, my mouth hit monster mode. Chase could barely keep up.
274 Talk about your strange bedfellows. I was in line for that menage a trois.
278 Two guys in one day? Almost too much to consider, although Bree found the prospect quite intriguing.
305 …pot made you buddy up with Satan… …Far fuckin' out! Beer's in back.
308 Pot smoke hung, a skunky green curtain, but I didn't want to fall low so I indulged in another big snort before inhaling a couple of tiny tokes mostly to satisfy the incredible urge to pollute my lungs. I topped that off with Marlboro, landing on just about the perfect plane, just about the place I wanted to be. Not too speedy, not even close to straight falling into the yo-yo rhythm of crank, pot, beer, tobacco, the sensational motion and emotion, up and down
310 As he pulled me onto his lap, I wondered if I should confess my double identity. Instead, I let him kiss me. Hard. Hot. Oh, man. I'm hot. He shed his shirt and the moon revealed perfect, tanned muscles. He started to unbutton mine, silencing my protest. Shhh. Don't say no. "I can't. I mean, I never…." Crank-enhanced goosebumps lifted as he moved his hands gently across my skin. "Stop." You know you want to. "I do, Brendan, I really do. But I can't. It's the wrong time of the month." I'd decked him. He slapped back. Then, why did you call? I let Bree answer. "Not to get laid, incredible as you are. Is that all you think I’m about? What if I told you I'm a virgin?" I'd call you a liar.
312 Brendan softened immediately, offered to forgive me if only I promised to let him be the first. …I said okay, then proceeded to thank him as only Bree- and the monster- could.
315 High For two days, too much crank, no sleep, liquid diet.
337 Called Brendan for a date and asked him to make a buy. "Can you get me an eight ball? Figured an eighth of an ounce would last awhile. It cost me $250, which I was saving to buy my first car.
339 …the voice of my virginity nagged, the lure of the monster was stronger. Besides, I could always say "no." Page Content Couldn't I? …As we drove up the mountains, his hand crept up my leg. I let it do exactly that as I watched for a safe spot to pull over. We drove back off the highway, and into a grove of fresh-scented evergreens.
340 He pulled out a bindle, which looked a bit short, and a six-pack of beer. For the next twenty minutes, we snorted and drank, climbing to a very tall buzz.
341 It started with a kiss crank-revved, pistons firing full bore, passion fire crackered in tiny bursts from thigh to belly button. Oh, baby. I want you so bad! "B-b-bad to the bone?" We laughed, but it wasn't alright. Not for long. My shirt tore open. "Wait." I've waited for weeks. Put up and shut up. Kissed segued to bites. Bruises. Pain rippled through my body. "Brendan, please stop." No. You promised, You damn little tease. Off came my shorts. Down went his zipper. I realized I was in serious trouble. "I'll scream." Go ahead. No one can hear but skunks and coyotes. Still, as I opened my mouth, his hand slapped down on it. Those sublime muscles hardened. Just relax. You'll love it. My brand-new Victoria's Secrets shredded, and I felt the worst of Brendan pause, savoring my terror. They all love it. Had he done it a different way, I might have responded with excitement. Instead, I froze as he pushed inside. There it is. Oh, God. There it goes. It went, all right, with an audible tear. Pain mushroomed into agony and all I could do was go stiff. You weren't lying, you bitch! I laid there, sobbing, as he worked and sweated over me. Stoked by the monster, it took him a long time to finish. Give me a line, I'll give you an encore. He pulled away sticky and bloody. Throbbing inside and out, I didn't move, didn't dare look him in the eye. What the hell is the matter, Bree? I stared up at the clouds, gathering into gloom, shutting out the moon.
344 It was Bree who got me to my feet helped me to the car put me on the seat kept me semi upright on the long ride home Bree, who staunched the blood straightened up my clothes unsmeared my makeup brushed my hair smooth Page Content willed strength against the aching claiming body and soul Bree, who understood that, wasted on crank, there was nothing I could do but plot future revenge.
352 I've got two boyfriends. One is too busy trying to keep me out of trouble. The other just raped in I think it was rape, anyway. Can you define the word for me? Oops I'm sounding bitter. Better close now. I need to cry. (Maybe you didn't want to hear that.)
378 Don't tell me your still snorting. Have you ever tried smoking it? She was the first to even suggest it. Robyn the Reno High cheerleader proceeded to show me a whole new way to get down with the monster.
379 Robyn produced a V of crusty foil, tapped in the crumbs of powder. This little bit will right to your brain and won't clog your sinuses.
401 Can't rape the willing. "That's what I've heard." I turned to his side. "How about you? Are you willing?"
402 I started crankin' to keep up with schoolwork around gymnastics, cheerleading, student body council, and other extracurricular crap.
402 When I told him to stop, he said, "It's a long way back even if you don't get lost. Anyway we both know what kind of a girl you are." That stung, but not much.
403 All I could do was more crank so maybe I could halfway enjoy it. I was dirty. …after he started, he got mean. He did things to me- terrible things, I've still got the scarsthings no sane person would ever do. Of course he wasn't exactly sane. Afterward, neither was I.
404 …coaxing myself mostly awake with a whiff of white.
412 How to get high and stay that way? (Coming down was a bitch and a half.) Finding crank wasn’t difficult. Most of my new crowd knew someone who dealt (or knew someone who knew someone who did).
437 I Don't know whose blade it was, whose idea it was. I don't remember saying yes. I know I didn't say no. The knife was sharp. One nick at my wrist. It didn't even hurt. It didn't seem wrong. Rust in my mouth. Rich red salt. I drank it down, asked for more. Offered my own to those who would partake. Fever. Fire. I was on fire. Page Content
439 "Make love to me. Please? I don't care who sees." He might have. But just then his watch beeped "two." No way. Come on, let's go!
485 Finally, I went to the pay phone and made two calls. One to Planned Parenthood. The other to Chase.
490 I Already knew my options I listened patiently as the saccharine Ms. Sweetwater outlined them again. She did confirm that should I choose abortion, my parents would not have to know. All I needed was $500 and someone to drive me home.
502 The bitch queen? What would I tell her now? That I was pregnant? That I was pregnant because I was raped? That I was raped because I would have done anything for just one more taste of the monster?
503 Where would I find such nerve without crank to put in my mouth?
MHJH
FADE Young Adult Summary of Concerns: This book contains sexual nudity; sexual activities including rape; profanity; and illegal drug use By Lisa McMann ISBN: 978-1-41695358-6 1-4169-5358-2
Page Content
13 Cabel squints, "Fucking teachers, fucking students? Is that a slam on Fieldridge teachers and students, or is it, you kno, literal?"
69 Mr. Durbin pats her on the shoulder. "Nicely done, Janie." She grins. Takes off her safety glasses. And his hand is still on her shoulder. Caressing it now. Janie's stomach churns. Oh god, she thinks. She wants to get away. He's smiling proudly at her. His hand slides down her back just a little, so lightly she can hardly feel it, and then to the small of her back. She's uncomfortable. "Happy Birthday, Janie," he says in a low voice
86 He really is a terrific teacher. And then he's next to her at her table, checking out her work. "Looking good, Hannagan," he says quietly. But he's not looking at her formula, bubbling merrily over the burner. He's looking down her shirt as she's leaning over.
101 Desperately she pushes that thought aside. Her lips are hot against his neck. She tugs at his T-shirt and slips her quivering fingers under it, re-exploring Cabel's nubbly skin. Touching the scars on his belly, his chest. She knows that Cabel feels the same way she does, sometimes—like no one would want to be with him because of his issues. Maybe the two of us really could last, Janie thinks. Misfits, united. Cabel's fingers trace a slow path from Janie's shoulder to her hip as they kiss. Then he slips his shirt over his head and tosses it aside. Presses against her. "That's a little better," he whispers in her ear. "Only a little?" The winter dusk of late afternoon falls into the room. Janie reaches for her blouse and slowly unbuttons it. Lets it fall open. Cabel pauses and stares, not sure what to do. He closes his eyes for a moment and swallows hard. She reaches between her breasts and unhooks her bra. And then she turns her face slowly toward him. "Cabel?" She looks into his eyes. "Yes," he whispers. He can barely get the word out. "I want you to touch me," she says, taking his hand and guiding it. "Okay?" "Oh god." She pulls a newly purchased condom from her pocket. Sets the package on the skin of her belly. Reaches for his jeans. Cabel, momentarily rendered speechless, helpless, and thoughtless except for wanting her, sighs in shudders as he touches her skin, her breasts, her thighs, and then, as the light fades from the window, they are kissing as if their lives depend on their shared breath, and urgently making love for the first time, with their eyes and bodies, like it's the only chance they'll ever have.
115 "Awesome. This is going to be a blast! You are such a cool teacher. You're just like one of us you know?" Mr. Durbin grins. "I try. It's only been eight years since I was a senior in high school. I'm not some old geezer, you know." He's languid, leaning against the side of his desk, arms crossed in front of him. And then he's reaching out his hand. "Hold still," he says. "You've got an eyelash." He brushes lightly across Janie's cheek with his thumb, and his fingers linger at her hairline just a second longer than necessary. Janie lowers her eyes demurely, then looks back up into his. "Thanks," she says softly. He gives her a smoldering look that is unmistakable.
133 "Now give it a try," he says, looking at her. He takes the paper and slips it under her notebook, brushing her breast with his forearm. Both pretend not to notice. Janie pulls out a fresh piece of paper and begins from the initial equation. She leans over the paper, so her hair falls in front of her shoulder, and scribbles away. After a moment he draws her hair back over her shoulder. His fingers linger an extra moment on her neck. "I can't see," he explains.
135 "We both know don't we," he says, "why you wanted to come here this evening." Janie gulps. "We do?" "Yes. And don't feel badly about it. Because I'm attracted to you too." Janie blinks. Blushes. "But," he continues, "I can't have a relationship with you while you're my student. It's not right. Even though you're eighteen." Janie is silent, looking at the floor. He tips her chin up. His fingers linger on her face. "But once you graduate," he says with a look in his eye, "well, that's a different story."
144 Lauren dances in the center of a circle. Her shirt is off and she twirls it as she stumbles around, laughing, wearing just a black bra and jeans. Someone joins her. He strips his shirt off and grabs Lauren. Everyone claps and cheers as the guy pulls Lauren to him. They kiss and grind as the music pounds in the background. Hip-hop music. Janie watches in horror as the guy removes Lauren's clothing and shoves his jeans down to his knees. The guy pushes Lauren to the floor, falling on top of her, their drinks spilling everywhere, and the rest of the group begins making out and tearing off one another's clothes. Then they pile up on top of Lauren until people are stacked to the ceiling. Lauren is screaming, muffled. She's being crushed to death. Janie's numb. Her body shakes. She's had enough, but it's too horrible. She can't escape. She tries to pull herself away, but the nightmare is too strong. Janie tries to scream, but she knows she can't. Look at me! she cries mentally to Lauren. Ask me to help you! But this nightmare is out of control. Janie can't get Lauren's attention. She can't pull out of it. She watches in horror as Lauren fights, tearing uselessly at the people on top of her, shouting, "Nol Stopl No!" Janie summons all her strength and tries to pause it. Tries to scan the room again. It's not working. Until. With a final, heroic effort, Janie manages to pry her eyes off of Lauren. Looks around the room. There. In the kitchen. Laughing and drinking, watching the craziness, like it's a football game or something. Someone has a cell phone out. A strange expression on her blurry, laughing face.
178 Janie mingles her way to the bathroom with her untouched punch and stands in line. By the time she gets in there, she hears the clumping of a dozen feet coming up the stairs. Mr. Durbin's explaining boisterously that somebody's gotta be the one to start eating, because the girls aren't doing it. She locks herself in the bathroom and does the drink test again. Spreads the drop of punch on the paper. Waits thirty seconds. Watches it change to bright blue. Her stomach lurches. Rooffies.
180 Stumbling, Janie bumps against the door, trying to push it, and finally tries pulling it. It opens, and Mr. Durbin is on the bed. There are three girls from class with him, and he's taking their clothes off as they lie there.
184 "Oh, cool. Do you have that porn magazine in there?" Janie hesitates too late, wondering if she was supposed to say that, but she can't remember why she shouldn't. "Lot's of them," he says. "Not that I need them with you here." "Huh." She follows him through the dazed and half-naked crowd. He stops to grab another glass of punch, and gives her another one too. On the way to Mr. Durbin's bedroom, Janie waves at Coach Crater. "Hey," she says, turning back to Mr. Durbin. "Wasn't Stacey here? Before?" "She's still here, Janie." His words are deliberate, like he's concentrating. "She's fucking Chris in the other bedroom, so we can fuck in here."
186 Coach Crater goes inside and comes back with a joint. "How's this, Buffy?" 187 And then Coach Crater grabs her by the shoulders and turns toward him. He plants a big wet kiss on her mouth. And moves on. …Outside on the deck, it's dark. Mr. Wang follows her out there, in his Calvin Klein briefs. …She holds on tightly to the railing when Mr. Wang starts touching her. "I smelled smoke," she explains, but she doesn't see anyone smoking. And then Coach Crater comes out too. Mr. Wang is kissing her neck, and Coach is telling her how hot she is and feeling her up, and he says something about bench pressing. …Then, in her mind, while the two men kiss and touch her, is Miss Stubin.
188 Janie reels back against the deck's handrail, stumbling, grabs Coach's arm off her breast…
189 She lights the joint and inhales the smoke. Holds it in. Lets it out slowly. Mr. Wang falls to the deck next to her and starts kissing her cleavage.
190 She doesn't like that, she decides. He's in her way. She's trying to smoke a joint here. She makes a peace sign with her fingers, marveling over them. Then, when Mr. Wang grabs her nipple in his mouth, she stabs him in the eyeballs. She learned that somewhere. She doesn't know where. Mr. Wang swings his fist wildly, crying out in pain. He catches her on the jaw, her head flies back and hits the deck's rail, and she blacks out. The joint burns down between her fingers.
198 Janie remains quiet for a long time. Finally she says, "This is weird, but I know Coach Crater raped Stacey. Not this time. Last semester."
200 "Twenty-one positives on the GHB, Janie." Cabel's voice is harsh. "Everyone at the party was drugged. Durbin even drugged himself. Rumor has it, the drug is known to enhance stamina." He pauses. "Ewww." They both shudder. "When Baker and Cobb and the backup crew arrived, Durbin had three female students in his bed with him." Janie is quiet. "He's going to jail for a long time, Janie." "What about Wang?" "Him too. Sadly he raped Stacey before Baker and Cobb got there. They found his DNA. She asked for the morning-after pill. She doesn't remember anything that happened last night." Cabel's hands grip the steering wheel. His knuckles are white. Janie's quiet. "Fuck," she says.
231 "Still no memory of any of it, huh? Yeah, that's the way it is with those date-rape drugs. That's also why so many rapes go unnoticed or unreported. The memory loss allows sickos, like Durbin and his ilk, to get away with that shit time after time. You really saved the day, Janie."
238 He whirls around and grabs her arm. Pulls her to him. Kisses her hard, tangling his fingers in her hair. His tongue darts into her mouth and finds hers, tasting her, an oasis in the desert, his body urgently pressing against hers as his hands caress her neck. Janie stands frozen for a moment, and then she moans and reaches for him. Cabel slips her coat off her shoulders, and it falls to the floor, and he lifts her up, holds her until she wraps her legs around his waist. His lips move to her neck and strain at the buttons of her shirt. "Time's up," she says gasping. He lifts his lips from her skin. Runs his hands over her body. A button falls to the floor, bounces, and rolls under the chair. He walks, with her still attached, to the couch and sits with her on his lap. "Janie. Oh god, I can't do it," he whispers
PMS and MHJH *As young as a 6th grader could read this....
EMPIRE OF STORMS Young Adult Summary of Concerns: This book contains explicit sexual activities; sexual nudity; violence; and profanity. By Sarah J. Maas ISBN: 978-1-61963-607-1 978-1-61963-609-5 978-1-6193-608-8 978-1-68119-428-8 9778-1-68119-427-1 978-1-68119-357-1 978-1-68119-515-5 Page Content
23 A dark laugh against her now-burning skin. It was an effort to keep from taking one of his hands and guiding it up to her breasts, to beg him to touch, take, taste. "You know, I'm starting to think you're a sadist." "Trust me, I don't find it easy, either." He tugged her a bit harder against him, letting her feel the evidence pushing with impressive demand against her backside. She nearly groaned at that, too.
25 Aelin lifted onto her toes. She felt Rowan's eyes on her the whole time, felt his body go still with predatory focus, as she kissed the corner of his mouth, the bow of his lips, the other corner. Soft, taunting kisses. Designed to see which one of them yielded first. Rowan did. With a sharp intake of breath, he gripped her hips, tugging her against him as he slanted his mouth over hers, deepening the kiss until her knees threatened to buckle. His tongue brushed hers- lazy, deft strokes that told her precisely what he was capable of doing elsewhere. …Aelin broke the kiss, breathing ragged, satisfied to find Rowan’s own chest rising and falling in an uneven rhythm. …Rowan made her magic sing. And maybe that was the carranam bond between the m, but…her magic wanted to dance with his. And from the frost sparkling in his eyes, she knew his own demanded the same. Rowan leaned forward until they were brow-to-brow. “Soon,” he promised, his voice rough and low. “Let’s get somewhere safe- somewhere defensible.” …Her hand strained, and she pulled back to lift a hand to his face. Rowan read the softness in her eyes, her body, and his own inherent fierceness slipped into a gentleness that so few would ever see. Her throat ached with the effort of keeping the words in. …So Aelin kissed Rowan gently, his hands again locking around her hips. “Fireheart,” he said into her mouth. “Buzzard,” she murmured into his.
230 And a full red mouth made for the bedroom…
292 A grand total of five minutes before Lysandra barged in, Rowan had awoken- and begun the process of awakening her, too. Slowly, with taunting, proprietary strokes down her bare torso, her thighs, accented with little kisses to her mouth, her ear, her neck. 316 He leaned in to brush a kiss to her mouth. And as his lips met hers, he joined their bleeding palms.
349 She chuckled, starting to feel the cool kiss of water on her naked body. …Rowan leaned into the thin veil of flame now melting into night-sweet air and nipped her lower lip. A sharp, wicked bite. “There’s my Fireheart.” Aelin let him pivot her in the surf and sand to face him fully, let him slide his mouth along her jaw, the curve of her cheekbone, the point of her Fae ear. “These,” he said, nibbling at her earlobe, “have been tempting me for months.” His tongue traced the delicate tip, and her back arched. The strong hands at her hips tightened. “Sometimes, you’d be sleeping beside me at Mistward, and it’d take all my concentration not to lean over and bite them. Bite you all over.” “Hmmm,” she said, tipping back her head to grant him access to her neck. Rowan obliged her silent demand, pressing kisses and soft, growling nips to her throat. “I’ve never taken a woman on a beach,” he purred against her skin, sucking gently on the space between her neck and shoulder. “And look at thatwe’re far from any sort of…collateral.” One hand drifted from her hip to caress the scars on her back, the other sliding to cup her backside, drawing her fully against him. Aelin spread her hands over his chest, tugging his white shirt over his head. Warm waves crashed against them, but Rowan held her fast- unmovable, unshakable. Aelin remembered herself enough to say, “Someone might come looking for us.” Rowan huffed a laugh against her neck. “Something tells me,” he said, his breath skittering along her skin, “you might not mind if we were discovered. If someone saw how thoroughly I plan to worship you.” …Aelin met Rowan’s stare and said clearly and baldly and without a speckle of doubt, “I love you. I am in love with you, Rowan. I have been for a while. And I know there are limits to what you can give me, and I know you might need time-“ His lips crushed into hers, and he said onto her mouth, dropping words more precious than rubies and emeralds and sapphires into her heart, her soul, “I love you. There is no limit to what I can give you, no time I need. Even when this world is a forgotten whisper of dust between the stars, I will love you.” …Rowan pulled back, wiping away her tears with his thumbs, one after another. …He roared a laugh and she let him lay her down on the sand with a gentleness near reverence. His sculpted chest heaved slightly as he ran an eye over her bare body. “You…are so beautiful.” …Her fingers dug into the soft sand as she arched her back in a slow stretch. Rowan tracked every movement, every flicker of muscle and skin. When his gaze lingered on her breasts, gleaming with seawater, his expression turned ravenous. Then his gaze slid lower. Lower. And when it lingered on the apex of her thighs and his eyes glazed, Aelin said to him, “Are you going to stand there gawking all night?” Rowan’s mouth parted slightly, his breathing shallow, his body already showing her precisely where this was going to end. …Again, his eyes slid along her body, as if he could see through skin to her burning heart beneath. “I’ve never been with…an equal. I’ve never allowed myself to be that unleashed.” …She braced herself on her elbows, lifting her mouth to the new scar on his shoulder, the wound small and jagged- as broad as an arrowhead. She kissed it once, twice. Rowan’s body was so tense above hers she thought his muscles would snap. But his hands were gentle as they drifted to her back, stroking her scars and the tattoos he’d inked over them. The waves tickled and caressed her, and he made to settle over her, but she lifted a hand to his chest- halting him dead. She smiled against his mouth. “If we’re equals, then I don’t understand why you’re still half clothed.” She didn’t give him the chance to explain as she traced her tongue over the seam of his lips, as her fingers unlatched the buckle of his worn sword belt. She wasn’t sure he was breathing. Page Content And just to see what he’d do, she palmed him through his pants. Rowan barked a curse. She laughed quietly, kissed his newest scar again, and dragged a finger down lazily, indolently, holding his gaze for every single inch she touched. …Rowan’s breathing started again, jagged and savage as the waves breaking around them. She flicked open the top button of his pants. “I’m yours,” he ground out. Another button popped free. “And you love me,” she said. …She popped the third and final button free, and he let go of her to toss his pants into the sand nearby, taking his undershorts with them. Her mouth went dry as she took in the sight of him. Rowan had been bred and honed for battle, and every inch of him was pure-blood warrior. …Rowan kissed her again. Slow. Soft. A hand slid up the plane of her torso while he lowered himself over her, his lips nestling against hers. She gasped a bit at the touch, gasped a bit more as his knuckle grazed the heavy, aching underside of her breast. As he leaned down to kiss the other. His teeth grazed over her nipple, and her eyes drifted closed, a moan slipping out of her. Oh, gods. Oh, burning, rutting gods. Rowan knew what he was doing; he really gods-damned did. His tongue flicked against her nipple, and her head tipped back, her fingers digging into his shoulders, urging him to take more, take harder. Rowan growled his approval, her breast still in his mouth, on his tongue, his hand making lazy strokes from her ribs down her waist, down her thighs, then back up. She arched in silent demandA phantom touch, like the northern wind given form, flicked over her bare breast. Aelin burst into flames. Rowan laughed darkly at the reds and golds and blues that erupted around them, illumining the palms that towered over the edge of the beach, the waves breaking behind him. She might have panicked, might have been mortified, had he not lifted his mouth to hers, had those phantom hands of ice-kissed wind not kept working her breasts, had his own hand not continued stroking, closer and closer to where she needed him. “You’re magnificent,” he murmured onto her lips, his tongue sliding into her mouth. The hardness of him pushed against her, and she bucked her hips, needing to grind herself against him, to do anything to ease the building ache between her legs. Rowan groaned, and she wondered if there was any other male in the world who would be so naked and prone with a woman on fire, who would not look at those flames with any ounce of fear. She slid her hand between them, and when she closed her fingers around him, marveling at the velvet-wrapped steel, Rowan groaned again, pushing into her hand. She pulled her mouth from his, staring into those pine-green eyes as she slid her hand along him. He lowered his head- not to kiss her, but to watch where she stroked him. …But Rowan gripped her wrist, drawing her hand away. She opened her mouth in protest, wanting to touch more, to taste more. “Let me,” Rowan growled onto the Page Content sea-slick skin between her breasts. “Let me touch you.” His voice trembled enough that Aelin lifted his chin with her thumb and forefinger. …She leaned up, brushing her mouth against his. “Do your worst, Prince.” Rowan’s smile was nothing short of wicked as he pulled away to run a broad hand from her throat down to the juncture of her thighs. She shuddered at the sheer possession in the touch, her breath coming in tight pants as he gripped either thigh and spread her legs, baring her fully for him. …Rowan kissed her navel, then her hip. Aelin couldn’t take her eyes from his silver hair shining with salt water and moonlight, from the hands holding her wide for him as his head dipped between her legs. And as Rowan tasted her on that beach, as he laughed against her slick skin while her hoarse cries of his name shattered across palm trees and sand and water, Aelin let go of all pretense at reason. She moved, hips undulating, begging him to go, go, go. So Rowan did, sliding a finger into her as his tongue flicked that one spot, and oh, gods, she was going to explode into starfire- “Aelin,” he growled, her name a plea. “Please,” she moaned. “Please.” The word was undoing. Rowan rose over her again, and she let out a sound that might have been a whimper, might have been his name. Then Rowan had a hand braced in the sand beside her head, fingers twining in her hair, while the other guided himself into her. At the first nudge of him, she forgot her own name. And as he slid with gentle, rolling thrusts, filling her inch by inch, she forgot that she was queen and that she had a separate body and kingdom and a world to look after. When Rowan was seated deep in her, trembling with restraint as he let her adjust, she lifted her burning hands to his face, wind and ice tumbling and roaring around them… …He leaned in, claiming her mouth as he began to move, and they let go entirely. …She dragged her hands down his powerful, muscled back, over scars from battles and terrors long since passed. And as his thrusts turned deeper, she dug in her fingers, dragging her nails across his back, claiming him, marking him. His hips slammed home at the blood she drew, and she arched, baring her throat to him. …Rowan’s magic went wild, though his mouth on her neck was so careful, even as his canines dragged along her skin. And at the touch of those lethal teeth against her, the death that hovered nearby and the hands that would always be gentle with her, always love herRelease blasted through her like wildfire. And though she could not remember her name, she remembered Rowan’s as she cried it while he kept moving, wringing every last ounce of pleasure from her, fire searing the sand around them to glass. Rowan’s own release barreled through him at the sight of it, and he groaned her name so that she remembered at last, lightning joining wind and ice over the water. Aelin held him through it, sending the fire-opal of her magic twine with his power. On and on, he spilled himself in her… Page Content …his breathing as ragged as the hiss of the crashing waves while he brushed lazy kisses to her temple, her nose, her mouth. …She was trembling- and so was Rowan as he remained in her. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and shoulder, he uneven skin warming her skin. …”…I think my body knew, my magic knew. And you tasted…” Rowan loosed a jagged breath. “So good. I hated you for it. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I’d wake up at night with that taste on my tongue- wake up thinking about your foul, beautiful mouth.” He traced his thumb over her lips. “You don’t want to know the depraved things I’ve thought about this mouth.” …He began to harden again inside her as the question lingered. Oh, gods- Fae lovers. Everyone should be so damn lucky to have one. Rowan rasped, “Do you want to bite me?” …”Am I limited to your neck?” Rowan’s eyes flared, and his answering thrust was answer enough. They moved together, undulating like the sea before them, and when Rowan roared her name again into the star-flecked black…
358 Rowan didn’t know whether to be amused, thrilled or slightly terrified that he’d been blessed with a queen and lover who had so little care for public decency. He’d taken her three times on that beach- twice in the sand, then a third out in the warm waters. And yet his very blood was still electrified. And yet he still wanted more. They’d swum into the shallows to wash off the sand crusted on them, but Aelin had wrapped her legs around his waist, kissed his neck, then licked his ear the way he’d nibbled hers, and he was buried in her again. …He still needed it. When they’d finished after that first time, he’d been left reeling, to pull his sanity back together after the joining that had…unleashed him. …He’d never had anything like her. Everything he’d given her, she’d given right back to him. And when she had bit him during that second coupling in the sand…His magic had left six nearby palm trees in splinters as he’d climaxed hard enough that he thought his body would shatter. …Which did little to cover her up, especially those beautiful legs, but at least it was less likely to start a riot. …And it’d been obvious what they’d done on that beach the moment they stepped within scenting range of anyone with a preternatural sense of smell.
360 Lysandra sat in bed, face drawn but eyes narrowed at the queen. It was the shifter who purred, "Enjoy your ride?" …But his queen only shrugged. "Isn't that all these Fae males are good for?" Rowan raised his brows, chuckling as he debated reminding her how she'd begged him throughout, how she'd said words like please, and oh, gods, and then a few extra pleases thrown in for good measure. He'd enjoy wringing those rarely seen manners from her again. Aelin shot him a glare, daring him to say it. And despite just having her, despite the fact that he could still taste her, Rowan knew that whenever they found their bed again, she would not get the rest she wanted.
374 If the young men of the town had been impressed by Lorcan's muscles, it was nothing on what those muscles were doing to the young women. Page Content …But what he lacked in charm he made up for with his shirtless, oiled body. And holy gods… Lorcan made the young men who had visited her tent look like…children.
397 Her shoulders stiffened slightly. "I'm hungry." He smiled slowly. As if she'd heard that smile, Manon glared. "Food."
420 But she put a hand on his bare chest, over his heart. It still thundered under her palm. She said softly, feeling that heart beneath her hand… …She leaned forward to kiss the bare skin where her hand had been. …She slid her arms around his bare waist. …She kissed his tattooed chest again, right over that mighty, thundering heart. …She kissed the corner of his mouth. …"If we survive this war, Princess," he said, running a finger down the groove of her spine,… …"I just needed the right excuse to learn," he said, kissing her cheek. Her body went taut and molten in all the right places as his mouth moved lower, pressing gentle, biting kisses to her jaw, her ear, her neck. She dug her fingers into his back, baring her throat as his canines scratched lightly. "I love you," Rowan breathed onto her skin, and flicked his tongue over the spot where his canines had scratched. …But Aelin only arched her back a bit more, a small, needy noise coming out of her. …"Please," she breathed, nails digging into his lower back in emphasis. Rowan's low groan was his only answer as he hoisted her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist, letting him carry her not to the bed, but to the wall, and the sensation of the cool wood against her back, compared to the heat and hardness of him pushing into her frontAelin panted through her gritted teeth as he again dragged his tongue over that spot on her neck. "Please." She felt his smile against her skin as Rowan thrust into her in a long powerful stroke- and bit down on her neck. A claiming, mighty and true, that she understood he so desperately needed. That she needed, and with his teeth in her, his body in her…She was going to combust, she was going to splinter apart from the overwhelming needRowan's hips began to move, setting a lazy, smooth pace as he kept his canines buried in her neck. As his tongue slid along the twin points of pleasure edged with finest pain, and he tasted her very essence as if it were wine. He laughed, low and wicked, as release had her biting down on his shoulder to keep from screaming loud enough to wake the creatures sleeping on the bottom of the sea. When Rowan finally drew his mouth away from her neck, his magic healing the small holes he'd left, his hands tightened on her thighs, pinning her to the wall as he moved deeper, harder. Aelin only dragged her fingers through is hair as she gave him a savage kiss, and Page Content tasted her own blood on his tongue. …This time, when Aelin went over the edge, Rowan plummeted with her.
427 …at the heat that had gathered in her core and now throbbed insistently enough that she clamped her legs together. She had never denied. Men had fallen to pieces, sometimes literally, to crawl into her bed. And she…She didn't know what she would have done if he had taken up her offer, if should have decided to learn what the king could do, exactly, with that beautiful mouth and toned body.
428 She began to unbutton the white shirt she'd been wearing for gods knew how long, but he growled, "I'll do it myself." Like hell he would. She touched the second button. Invisible hands wrapped around her wrists, tightly enough that she dropped the shirt. Dorian prowled to her. "I said that I'd do it." Manon took in each inch of him as he towered over her, and a shiver of pleasure rippled through her. "I suggest you listen." The pure male arrogance in that statement alone- …Dorian lowered his mouth to hers. It was a featherlight graze, barely a whisper of touch. Intent, calculated, and so unexpected she arched into it a bit. He kissed the corner of her mouth with the same silken gentleness. Then the other corner. She didn't move, didn't even breathe- like every part of her body was waiting to see what he'd do next. But Dorian pulled back, studying her eyes with a cool detachment.
480 One of those times that Rowan had run his thumb over the scar on her palm, leaning to kiss her neck.
491 A half smile cut across his granite-hewn face. And she wanted…wanted to touch it. That smile, that mouth. With her fingers, her own lips. …So she reached up with trembling fingers and touched his lips. Lorcan froze, still half above her, his eyes solemn and intent. But she traced the contours of his mouth, finding the skin there soft and warm, such a contrast to the harsh words that usually came out of it. She reached the corner of his lips, and he turned his face into her hand, resting his rough cheek against her palm. His eyes grew heavy-lidded as she brushed over the hard plane of his cheekbone. …But she rose up slightly, replacing her mouth where her fingers had been. The kiss was soft, and quiet, and brief. Barely a grazing of her lips against his.
492 But he leaned forward,…Elide found herself not at all afraid as Lorcan caressed her lips with his own. Not afraid of anything as he did it again, kissing one corner of her mouth, then the other. Such gentle, patient kisses- his hands equally so as they stroked the hair back from her brow, as they trailed over her hips, her ribs. She lifted her own hands to his face and dragged her fingers into his silken hair as she arched up into him, craving the weight of his body on hers. Lorcan's tongue brushed against the seam of her mouth, and Elide marveled at how natural it felt to open for him, how her body sang at the contact, his Page Content hardness against her softness. Lorcan groaned at the first caress of his tongue against her own, his hips grinding against hers in a way that made heat scorch through her, made her own body undulate against his in answer and demand. He kissed her deeper at that request, a hand sliding down to grip her thigh, spreading her legs a bit wider so he could settle fully between them. And as all of him lined up with her…She was panting, she realized, as she ground herself against him, as Lorcan tore his mouth from hers and kissed her jaw, her neck, her ear. She was trembling- not with fear, but with want as Lorcan breathed her name over and over onto her skin. …She took his face in her hands, finding his eyes blazing, his breathing as ragged as her own. Elide dared to run her fingers from his cheek down his neck, right beneath the collar of his shirt. His skin was like heated silk. He shuddered at the touch, head bowing so that his inky hair spilled onto her brow, and his hips drove into her just enough that a small gasp came out of her. More, she realized- she wanted more. His eyes met hers in silent question, her hand pausing over the skin above his heart. It was a raging, thunderous beat. She lifted her head to kiss him, and as her mouth again met his, she whispered her answer511 Aelin stepped close and kissed him on the neck. Those pine-green eyes warmed slightly as they shifted from the ruin to scan her face. "When we get back to civilization," he said, his voice deepening as he kissed her cheek, her ear, her brow, "I'm going to find you the nicest inn on the whole godsdamned continent." "Oh?" He kissed her mouth. Once, twice. "With good food, a disgustingly comfortable bed, and a big bathtub." …"How big?" she murmured, not caring what the others thought as they returned. "Big enough for two," he said onto her lips. Her blood turned sparkling at the promise. She kissed him once- briefly but deeply. "I have no defenses against such offers. Especially those made by such a pretty male." He scowled at pretty, nipping at her ear with his canines. "I keep a tally, you know, Princess. To remind myself to repay you the next time we're alone for all the truly wonderful things you say." Her toes curled in her soggy boots. But she patted him on the shoulder, looking him over with absolute irreverence, saying as she walked ahead, "I certainly hope you me beg for it." His answering growl from behind made heat bloom in her core.
573 She let him lean in to brush his mouth against her bare neck, right under her ear. Manon arched slightly at that caress. At the tongue that flicked against where his lips had been. Then he pulled back. Away. Even as those phantom hands continued to trail up her hips, over her waist. His mouth parted slightly, body trembling with restraint. Restraint, where most males took and took when she offered it, gorging themselves on her. …His face turned ravenous as he took in her breasts, the plane of her stomach- Page Content the scar slicing across it. That hunber shifted into something icy and vicious: "You once asked me where I stand on the line between killing to protect and killing for pleasure." His fingers grazed the seam of the scar across her abdomen. …A chill ran down her body, peaking her breasts. He watched them, then circled a finger around one. Dorian bent, his mouth following the path where that finger had been. Then his tongue. She bit her lip against the groan rising up her throat, her hands sliding into the silken locks of his hair. His mouth was still around the tip of her breast as he again met her eyes, sapphire framed with ebony lashes, and said, "I want to taste every inch of you." Manon let go of all pretense of reason as the king lifted his head and claimed her mouth. And for all his wanting to taste her, as she opened for him, Manon thought the king tasted like the sea, like a winter morning, something so foreign and yet familiar it at last dragged that moan from deep in her. His fingers slid to her jaw, tipping her face to thoroughly take her mouth, every movement of his tongue a sensuous promise that had her arching into him. He her meeting him stroke for stroke as he explored and teased until she could hardly think straight. …Dorian’s hands slid down her thighs, as if savoring the muscle there, then around- cupping her backside, grinding her into every hard inch of him. The small noise in her throat was cut off as he hoisted her from the wall in a smooth movement. Manon wrapped her legs around his waist while he carried her to the bed, his mouth never leaving hers as he devoured and devoured her. As he spread her beneath him. As he freed her pants button by button, then slid them off. But Dorian pulled back at last, leaving her panting as he surveyed her, utterly bare before him. He caressed a finger along the inside of her thigh. Higher. “I wanted you from the first moment I saw you in Oakwald,” he said, his voice low and rough. Manon reached up to peel off his shirt, white fabric sliding away to reveal tan skin and sculpted muscle. “Yes,” was all she told him. She unbuckled his belt, hands shaking. “Yes,” she said again, as Dorian brushed a knuckle over her core. He let out an approving growl at what he found. His clothes joined hers on the floor. Manon let him raise her arms over her head, his magic gently pinning her wrists to the mattress as he touched her, first with those wicked hands. Then with his wicked mouth. And when Manon had to bite his shoulder to muffle her moaning as he brought her over the edge, Dorian Havilliard buried himself deep inside her. She did not care who she was, who she had been, and what she had once promised to be as he moved. She dragged her hands through his thick hair, over the muscles of his back as it flexed and rippled with each thrust that drove her toward that shimmering edge again. Here, she was nothing but flesh and fire and iron; here, there was only this selfish need of her body, his body. More. She wanted more- wanted everything. She might have whispered it, might have pleaded for it. Because Darkness save her, Dorian gave it to her. To them both. Page Content He remained atop her when he at last stilled, his lips barely a hairs-breath above hers- hovering after the brutal kiss he’d given her to contain his roar as release found him. She was trembling with…whatever he’d done to her, her body. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face, his own fingers shaking. She had not realized how silent the world was- how loud they might have been, especially with so many Fae ears nearby. He was still atop her, in her. Those sapphire eyes flicked to her mouth, still panting slightly. “This was supposed to take the edge off.” She kept her words low as his clothes slid over, hauled by phantom hands. “And did it?” He traced her lower lip with his thumb and shuddered as she sucked it into her mouth, flickered it with her tongue. “No. Not even close.” But that was the gray light of dawn creeping into the room, staining the walls silver. He seemed to notice it at the same moment she did. Groaning softly, he pulled himself off her. She tugged on her clothes with trained efficiency, and only when she was lacing up her shirt did Dorian say, “We’re not done, you and I.” And it was the purely male promise that made her bare her teeth. “Unless you would like to learn precisely what parts of me are made of iron the next time you touch me, I decide those things.” Dorian gave another purely male smile, brows flicking up, and sauntered out the door as silently as he’d arrived. He only seemed to pause on the threshold- as if some word had snagged his interest. But he continued out, the door closing with barely a chick. Unruffled, utterly calm. Manon gaped after him, cursing her blood for heating again, for…what she’d allowed him to do. She wondered what Dorian would say if she told him she had never allowed a male atop her like that. Not once. Wondered what he’d say if she told him she’d wanted to sink her teeth into his neck and find out what he tasted like. Put her mouth on other parts and see what he tasted like there. Manon dragged her hands through her hair and slumped onto the pillow.
585 Manon was awake when Dorian stormed into her room an hour before dawn. He ignored her unlaced shirt, the swell of those lush breasts he'd tasted only yesterday, as he said, "Put your clothes on and follow me." …While they'd debated and readied for the past day, he'd contemplated Manon's warning, after she'd made his very blood sing with pleasure. Unless you would like to learn precisely what parts of me are made of iron the next time you touch me, I decide those things.
MHHS
GO ASK ALICE Young Adult Summary of Concerns: This book contains inexplicit sexual activities including sexual assault and prostitution involving minor; drug abuse; alcohol use; profanity and derogatory terms; and suicidal commentary. By Anonymous ISBN: 978-1-4169-1463-1
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7Last summer at Marion Hill's slumber party someone brought a Playboy magazine with a story in it about a girl sleeping with a boy for the first time and all I could think about was Roger. I don't ever want to have sex with any other boy in the whole world ever…ever…I swear I'll die a virgin if Roger and I don’t get together.
10 I wonder if I could go stick my finger down my throat and throw up every meal?
12 I wonder if boys were as oversexed in those days as they are now? …None of my friends go all the way, but I guess a lot of girls at school do.
27 I hope it's not strange for a girl to feel that way about another girl. Oh I hope not! Is it possible that I am in love with her?
30 Anyway, a little while after we got there Jill and one of the boys brought out a tray of coke and all the kids immediately sprawled out on the floor on cushions or curled up together on the sofa and chairs. Jill winked at me and said, "Tonight we're playing ‘Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button?’ You know, the game we use to play when we were kids.” Bill Thompson, who was stretched out next to me, laughed, “Only it’s just too bad that now somebody has to baby-sit.” I looked up at him and smiled. I didn’t want to appear too stupid. Everyone sipped their drinks slowly, and everyone seemed to be watching everyone else. I kept my eyes on Jill supposing that anything she did I should do. Suddenly I began to feel something strange inside myself like a storm. I remember that two or three records had played since we had had the drinks, and now everyone was beginning to look at me. The palms of my hands were sweating and I could feel droplets of moisture on my scalp at the back of my neck. The room seemed unusually quiet, and as Jill got up to close the window shades completely I thought, “They’re trying to poison me! Why, why would they try to poison me?” My whole body was tense at every muscle and a feeling of weird apprehension swept over me, strangled me, suffocated me. When I opened my eyes, I realized that it was just Bill who had put his arm around my shoulder. “Lucky you,” he was saying in a slow motioned record on the wrong speed voice. “But don’t worry, I’ll baby-sit you. This will be a good trip. Come on, relax, enjoy it, enjoy it.” He caressed my neck and face tenderly, and said, “Honestly, I won’t let anything bad happen to you.” Suddenly he seemed to be repeating himself over and over like a slow-motioned echo chamber. I started laughing, wildly, hysterically. It struck me as the funniest, most absurd thing I had ever heard. Then I noticed the strange shifting patterns on the ceiling. Bill pulled me down and my head rested in his lap as I watched the pattern change to swirling colors, great fields of reds, blues, and yellows. I tried to share the beauty with the others, but my words came out soggy, wet and dripping or tasting of color. I pulled myself up and began walking, feeling a slight child which crept inside as well as outside my body. I want to tell Bill, but all I could do was laugh. …and finally I couldn’t talk at all and slumped back onto the floor, closed my eyes and the music began to absorb me physically. I could smell it and touch it and feel it as well as hear it. I could smell it and touch it and taste it as well as hear it. Never had anything ever been so beautiful. I was a part of every single instrument, literally a part. Each note had a character, shape and color all its very own and seemed to be entirely separate from the rest of the score so that I could consider its relationship to the whole composition, before the next note sounded. Page Content My mind possessed the wisdoms of the ages, and there were no words adequate to describe them. I looked at a magazine on the table, and I could see it in 100 dimensions. It was so beautiful I could not stand the sight of it and closed my eyes. Immediately I was floating into another sphere, another world, another state. Things rushed away from me and at me, taking my breath away like a drop in a fast elevator. I couldn’t tell what was real and what was unreal. Was I the table or the book or the music, or was I part of all of them, but it didn’t really matter, for whatever I was, I was wonderful. For the first time that I could remember in my whole life, I was completely uninhibited. I was dancing before the whole group, performing, showing off, and enjoying every second of it. My senses were so up that I could hear someone breathing in the house next door and I could smell someone miles away making orange and red and green ribbed Jell-o. After what seemed eternities I began to come down and the party started breaking up. I sort of asked Jill what happened and she said that 10 out of the 14 bottles of coke had LSD in them and, “button, button,” no one knew just who would wind up with them. Wow, am I glad I was one of the lucky ones. …It was fun! It was ecstatic! It was glorious! …I’d have been scared to death if I’d known. So I’m glad they did it to me, because now I can feel free and honest and virtuous about not having made the decision myself.
35 For two days now I've tried to convince myself that using LSD makes me a "dope addict" and all the other low-class, unclean, despicable things I've heard about kids that use LSD and all the other drugs; but I'm so, so, so, so, so curious, I simply can’t wait to try pot, only once, I promise! I simply have to see if it's everything that it's cracked up not be! All the things I’ve heard about LSD were obviously written by uninformed, ignorant people like my parents who obviously don't know what they’re talking about; maybe pot is the same. … I'm sure if I hint around she'll see that I get to try pot just once, then I'll immediately go home and forget the whole drug set-up, but it's nice to be informed and know what things are really like. Of course, I wouldn’t want anyone to know I've really used them, and I guess I better go get one of those little fishing tackle-type metal boxes to lock you in with a good padlock.
36 Well he introduced me to torpedoes on Friday and Speed on Sunday. They are both like riding shooting stars through the Milky Way, only a million, trillion times better. The Speed was a little scary at first because Bill had to inject it right into my arm. I remembered how much I hated shots when I was in the hospital, but this is different, now I can’t wait, I positively can’t wait to try it again. No wonder it’s called Speed! I could hardly control myself, in fact I couldn’t have if I had wanted to, and I didn’t want to. I danced like I had never dreamed possible for introverted, mousy little me. I felt great, free, abandoned, a different, improved, perfected specimen of a different, improved, perfected species. It was wild! It was beautiful! It really was.
38 I don't know why I shouldn't use drugs, because they're wild and they're beautiful and they're wonderful, but I know I shouldn't, and I won't! Page Content
40 Bill had six kids over to his house last night. His folks had gone to the city so they wouldn't be back till one or two. They were all going to trip on acid, and since I'd been cooped up for so long I decided I might as well take one last trip too. I'm certainly not going to use any of the stuff when I get home. It was groovy, even greater than the others. I don't see how each trip can be better than the one before, but they are. I sat for hours examining the exoticness and magnificence of my right hand. I could see the muscles and the cells and the pores. Each blood vessel was a fascination unto itself, and my mind still flutters with the wonder of it all.
41 Well, last night it happened. I am no longer a virgin! …I wonder if sex without acid could be so exciting, so wonderful, so indescribable. I always thought it just took a minute, or that it would be like dogs mating, but it wasn't like that at all. Actually, last night it took me a long time to get started on the trip. I just sat in the corner feeling left out sort of antagonistic, then suddenly it happened and I wanted to dance wildly and make love. …suddenly I didn't have any inhibitions about trying to seduce him, not that he needed much pressure.
45 Imagine losing my virginity four nights before seeing Roger again.
46 I'm afraid to live and afraid to die, just like the old Negro spiritual.
48 Anyway, I don't know how much longer I can last; if something doesn't happen soon I think I'm going to blow my brains out.
49 I sat down and poured my whole soul out to him, nothing of course about my acid trips or the Speed, and surely not about Bill and my possible condition…
49 Now I can throw away my sleeping pills and tranquilizers, I can be me again!
52 She said, "This heart will pep you up like tranquilizers slow you down," and you know she was right! …The only problem is that now it's night and I can't seem to turn the energy off. I'd stay up and write to Roger, but I just wrote him a giant letter yesterday and he'd think I was some kind of nut. I guess I'll just have to waste one of my good sleeping pills to stop it. That's life. See ya.
54 I suspect she knows a little about drugs, because she's given me hearts a couple of times when I've been really low.
55 I have to take Dexies to stay high at school and at work and on dates and to do my homework, then I have to take tranquilizers to bear up at home.
56 I finally smoked pot and it was even greater than I expected! Last night after work, Chris fixed me up with a college friend of hers who knew I'd been on acid, etc., but who wanted to turn me on to hash.
57 Then Richie showed me ho to smoke. …At first I took too deep a drag and almost choked to death, so Richie told me to suck in openmouthed gulps to mix as much air as possible. But that didn't work too well either and after a while Ted gave up and brought out the hookah pipe. It seemed funny and exotic but at first I couldn't get any smoke and I felt cheated because the other three were obviously stoned. But finally it started to work, just Page Content when I thought it never would, and finally began to feel happy and free as a bright canary chirping through the open, endless heavens. And I was so relaxed! I don't think I've been that relaxed in my whole entire life!
58 Later we were all very thirsty and dying for something sweet. So we walked to the ice cream shop, joking about the incredible high curbs and the unbelievable oddly shaped moon which kept changing shapes and colors. I don't know if we were all really as high as we said we were, but it was fun.
59 P.S. Richie gave me some joints to smoke when I'm alone and I want to be in heaven. Isn't that nice, nice, nice! …Chris and I are thinking about quitting our jobs because it's getting so that we don't have any time for what we want to do. …The bitch is that none of us ever seem to have enough money, so Chris and I have both had to push a little pot. Of course we only sell to the kids who are heavy users and who would just buy it from someone else if they didn't get it from us. Ted and Richie are in college, and they have to work a lot harder than we do in high school so they don't have the time to sell.
60 I convinced Richie that it would be easier to push acid than pot, at least we can put it on penny stamps or gum or life savers and carry them around with us without having the fuzz breathing down our necks or without having some idiot fink find out where or what our bag is. Rich is good, good, good to me and sex with him is like lightning and rainbows and springtime.
61 He teases me and says I'm oversexed because I've been bugging him to let me try sex without being stoned first. …I really wish we could be together stoned every night, but he only lets me come over when he restocks my acid supply and gives me enough grass and barbs to last me until I see him again. …Maybe I am oversexed, at least I seem to be a lot more interested in it than he is.
62 I don't mind pushing at high school because the stuff is sometimes kind of heard to get and the kids usually come up and ask me for it. Chris and I just supply it from Richie. He can get whatever is their bag, barbs or pot or amphetamines or LSD or DMT or meth or anything. The high school kids are one thing and even the junior high, but today I sold ten stamps of LSD to a little kid at the grade school who was not even nine years old, I'm sure. I know that he in turn must be pushing and these kids are just too young! The thought of nine and ten year olds getting wasted is so repulsive that they'll get it somewhere but they won't get it from me!
63 …bitchie… …sonofabitch.
63 Chris and I walked into Rich and Ted's apartment to find the bastards stoned and making love to each other. …Here I am out peddling drugs for a low class queer whose dad probably isn't sick at all. …I can't believe I've sold to eleven and twelve year olds and even nine and ten Page Content year olds. …She's been using drugs for over a year and I've been on since July 10 to be exact. We've decided it would be impossible to change while we're here so we're going to cut out and go to San Francisco.
64 Practically every kid that uses also sells and it's just a giant round robin thing that keeps getting bigger and bigger until I wonder where it will ever end! …Goodbye dear home, goodbye good family. I really am leaving mostly because I love you so much and I don't want you to ever know what a weak and disreputable person I have been.
69 I don't even take a bath every day any more, it's too much trouble to wait around for the bathroom to be empty.
71 The men stash their wives up in their suites then come down and make passes at me.
76 Then I turned around and one of the men passed me a joint and that was it. I wanted to be ripped, smashed, torn up as I had never wanted anything before. This was the scene, these were the swingers and I wanted to be a part of it! …I don't know if we were smoking hash, which is hard to get right now, or what.
77 There were only four of us, and Shelia and Rod, her current "boyfriend," introduced us to heroin. …Smack is a great sensation, different from anything I'd ever had before. I felt gentle and drowsy and wonderfully soft like I was floating above reality and the mundane things were lost forever in space. But just before I was too out of it to notice what was going on, I saw Shelia and that cocksucker she goes with lighting up and setting out Speed. I remember wondering why they were getting high when they had just set us out on this wonderful low, and it wasn't until later that I realized that the dirty sonofabitches had taken turns raping us and treating us sadistically and brutally. That had been their planned strategy all along, the low-class shit eaters.
92 I had really almost forgotten that so short a time ago I was a pusher.
97 She sounded like she didn't know what to do. But when I got there and smelled that incredible smell, I just sat down on the floor of her room with her and cried and smoked.
102 Like here I am in Denver. When I was high I just walked out and hitch-hiked here,…
105 Doris has a whole can of pot so we'll have joints for a long time.
107 Oh, to be stoned, to have someone tie me off and give me a shot of anything. I've heard paregoric is great. Oh hell, I wish I had enough anything to end the whole shitty mess.
108 Oh, I need a fix so bad! …And when Doris had just turned eleven her current stepfather started having sex with her but good, and the poor little stupid bastard didn't even know what to do about it because he threatened to kill her if she ever told her mother or anyone else. So she put up with the sonofabitch balling her till she was twelve. Then one day when he had hurt her pretty bad she told her gym teacher whey she couldn't Page Content do the exercises. …But even that wasn't much better, because both the teenage brothers gave it to her and later older teenage girls tuned her in and turned her on drugs, then took her the homo route. Since then she's pulled down her pants and hopped into bed with anyone who would turn down the covers, or part the bushes. …Most of the way down we rode with big fat assed, baby screwing truck driver who picked us up and got his kicks by physically hurting Doris and watching her cry.
109 Man, what a mother…we finally got another ride with some of our kind and while they shared their grass with us it must have been home grown stuff, because it was so fuckin' weak it could barely get us off terra firm. The rally itself was great, acid and booze and pot as free as the air.
110 Color and people intercoursing together.
111 I've been digger here, but now when I face a girl it's like facing a boy. I get all excited and turned on. I want to screw with the girl, you know, and then I get all tensed-up and scared. …I'd rather screw with a guy, but I can't. I guess I've had a bit of a summer. Sometimes I want one of the girls to kiss me. I want her to touch me, to have her sleep under me, but then I feel terrible.
112 If I don't give Big Ass a blow he'll cut off my supply. …What a bastard world without drugs! The dirty ofay who wants me to layit on him knows my ass is dragging, but he's doling out the only supply I know about. I'm almost ready to take on the Fat Cats, the Rich Philistines, or even the whole public for one good shot. Goddamn Big Ass makes me do it before he gives me the load. Everybody is just lying around here like they're dead and Little Jacon is yelling, "Mama, Daddy can't come now. He's humping Carla."
113 The girl on the grass beside me is white-faced and Mona Lisa like and she's preggers. I asked her what she's going to do with the baby and she just said, "It will belong to everybody. We'll all share her." …So I asked her for an upper and she just shook her head like a stupid, blank, and I realized that she's completely burned out.
115 It says one girl had her baby in the park, another had a miscarriage and two unidentified boys died during the night from O.D.'s. Oh, how I wish one of them had been me!
126 Naked girls were dancing around, making love to statues. I remember one girl ran her tongue along a statue and he came along and took her off into the high, blue grass. I couldn't really see what was happening, but he was obviously putting it to her. I felt so sexy I wanted to break wide open and run after them. …"Mighty kind y'all. I hope you have a nice orgasm with your dog tonight."
131 Everyone knows that sex and shit go together, and as far as I'm concerned they are a bunch of social lepers-… …It's strange how much sex I've had and yet I don't feel as though I've had any.
158 Today I was just walking down the street by the park when a boy I don't even know grabbed me and threatened me. He kept pulling on my arm and twisting it and calling me every rotten thing in the world. Lots of kids were walking by and I Page Content wanted to scream but I couldn't. …Then he pushed me around to the back of the clump of bushes and kissed me. It was totally humiliating and disgusting. He pushed his tongue into my mouth and he just kept rolling it around until I was crying and gagging. Then he said all I needed was a good fuck and that I'd better not tell anyone or he'd come back and really talk things over with me.
164 They took the bandages off my hands and changed them and it is no wonder they hurt so much. The whole ends of my fingers had been torn off and two nails have been pulled out completely and the others are torn down almost in half. 165 The worms are eating away my female parts first. They have almost entirely eaten away my vagina and my breasts and now they are working on my mouth and throat. I wish the doctors and nurses would let my soul die,…
172 He said that when my case was taken before the juvenile judge, Jan and Marcie both testified that I had been trying for weeks to sell them LSD and marijuana and that around school I was a known user and pusher. …I have a drug record and Daddy said that when Mrs. Larsen's neighbor heard me screaming, she and the gardener came over to see what was happening and thinking I had gone insane they locked me in a small closet, ran to check the baby who had apparently also been awakened by my screams, and called the police. By the time they got there I had injured myself severely and was trying to scratch the rough plaster off the walls to get out and had beaten my head against the door until I had a brain concussion and a fractured skull.
180 …when I asked Babbie if she wouldn't rather talk in my room, she said we weren't allowed to have sex in our rooms but could manage it in the storeroom tomorrow. I didn't even know what to say! She thought I was trying to seduce her… …She said she's thirteen and that she had been on drugs for two years.
181 Anyway what really was going on was that Babbie had been introduced to drugs by some 32-year-old man she met in a matinee movie. She didn't tell me the details but I guess he introduced her to drugs and to the life in general. A few months later he floated away and she found that it was very easy to meet other men. In fact at twelve she was already a BP (Baby prostitute). …A friend had told her that it was never any trouble for BP's to get by and, according to Babbie, the friend was right. On her second day in L.A., she was wandering around and she met a "friend," a beautifully dressed woman who took her to a big apartment on - Boulevard. When she got there, there were some girls her age in the living room and pills all over the place in candy dishes. Within a half an hour, she was completely stoned.
182 She only had to work for two hours a day- mostly in the afternoons. So the next day she registered in school as the woman's niece and began living as a high class BP. The woman had four nieces staying with her while Babbie lived there. The chauffer took them to school and picked them up and they never saw any of the money they made.
183 Later I guess she finally reached her parents, but by the time they got to San Francisco she had wandered off with some guy who had set up his own lab to Page Content make LSD. They both got mixed up in some communal shit and eventually she landed here, like me.
189 A week later the same three tried his dad's scotch, but they didn't like it as much and found it was harder to get than pot and pills. He said what I'd heard before, that parents never miss their diet pills, their tranquilizers, their cold remedies, their pep pills, their sleeping pills, or any of the other things that will supply kids a "jolt" when they can't get their hands on anything else.
197 It might be great because I'm practically a virgin in the sense that I've never had sex except when I've been stoned and I'm sure without drugs I'll be scared out of my mind. Profanity
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I could go on and on... there are to many to list on here but I will upload one of the links if you would like to continue to look for yourself...
Booklooks Book Reports
Here are a few more titles if you want to dive in for yourself...
Laura Dean Keeps breaking up with me: Graphic novel in MHHS normalizes homosexuality and the idea that the nuclear family is bad. There are images of inappropriate activities in the girls bathroom at school, abortion because she was impregnated by a married man, sadomasochism and excessive profanity.
Damsel: You can find this at MHHS: explicit sexual activities, sexual battery...
This One Summer: graphic novel: At MHJH and MHHS: you will find commentary on sex with minors, drinking alcohol and excessive profanity
Sold: by Ny Patricia McCormick: explicit aberrant sexual activities including rape of minors, prostitution of minors, and explicit violence.
Heroine: MHHS and MHJH: Drugs and explicit sexuual commentary and profanitiy.
Living Dead Girl: Explicit acts toward children including sexual activities, sexual assaults and battery.
Nowhere Girls: MHJH: obscenensexual activities including rape of minors and excessive profanity
Speak: the graphic novel: sexual assault, suicidal ideations, sexual activities, self harm. Because it's a graphic novel you get drawings of how to properly slit your wrists, and ambiguous drawings of sexual assault.
There is still a lot of work to do. I do hope this clears up a number of rumors that I am somehow a bigot and book burner or a liar about the books that have been found. I am not. I just want age appropriate books to be in our libraries so the kids can find their passion for reading. As I said, I do know our Librarians are working on this to get systems in place as well.
I can't tell you what to do but I would ask not to use this information to lash out or hurt others but to educate yourself on the things that are happening. Not everyone wants to burn books, least of all me. Not everyone is a Bigot because we don't see eye to eye on everything. We do want real lasting change for the kids in the community.
I want to stress this one more time, I did NOT do this to be divisive and hateful but to be transparent and open. To show what did go one, and what is happening now... As I said to the School Board member who wants to peacock around to show off what they did, when I told the story I would tell both sides the good and the ugly of it all... Are there nasty books that are extremely inappropriate in my opinion? Yes and I am not alone in that.
I also want to warn parents that even though some titles seem harmless they can be deceiving be aware and mindful. If you are perfectly fine with your 6th grader or 8th grader reading this kind of literature, then great, I know you can find these title and many more on Amazon and in our County Library.
Something to consider....
In the school handbook, they won't allow sex in the bathroom, excessive profanity, and teachers having kids over for a party with sex and drugs, why can they read about it in the school?
I pray you all have a blessed day...
Blessings and Love!!!
