TTYL: Is Young Adult Novel Too "Adult"?

During the public comments section of last week's BOE Meeting, a Ponus Ridge parent Matthew Surapine read racy passages aloud from a novel, TTLY,  that his daughter had checked out of her school library.  Those of us present at the meeting squirmed uncomfortably in our seats while we listened to some pretty sexually graphic content.

TTLY, a young adult novel by Lauren Myracle, was published in 2004 and gained attention for being the first-ever novel written entirely in the style of instant messaging.  It contains strong language, sexual content, teen drinking and an improper student-teacher relationship.  The novel was a New York Times bestseller and has had two sequels, ttfn and  l8r, g8r.  Some critics have hailed Ms. Myracle's approach as "creative" and "unusually candid". 

Mr. Surapine, however, was clearly objecting to what he believes is vulgar and innappropriate material for a middle school age student.   He is not alone is his disapproval of TTLY.  In November 2008, TTLY was pulled off shelves in middle schools in Round Rock, Texas and Pflugerville, a neighboring town.

KXAN, a NBC News affiliate in Austin, TX had the story:

After months of debate, Round Rock Independent School District superintendent has decided to pull the racy, controversial book "TTYL" from the middle school libraries. The battle has been brewing between parents and the school board because many parents said "TTYL" is too vulgar for middle school students. The fight to get the book in a special section of Ridgeview Middle School started when the Jennings' sixth-grade daughter brought it home and Wes and Sherry Jennings started looking through it. What they found was, "TTYL" discusses sex, pornography, drinking and in inappropriate student-teacher relationship.

 The Jennings brought the book to the attention of the Ridgefield Middle School librarian and principal, and were displeased with the reaction they received. Next, they teamed up with several other parents and started the school districts' appeals process to get the book moved into a "mature" section of the library. However, the school district is strictly prohibited from allowing only certain students to read isolated sections of materials. Instead, the school superintendent chose to remove "TTYL" from all Round Rock middle school libraries.

The Jennings said that people think it is acceptable to censor Websites, but the thought of removing a book from a middle school shelf makes many uncomfortable.  "We do not want to ban or censor books, we just want it to be age appropriate where it was intended," said Sherry Jennings.

Another Round Rock  parent wants to make sure that schools and libraries are "safe" for children.

While the Jennings started the fight to clean up Round Rock's middle school libraries, there are many other parents are on the same page. "Children have neither the emotional or intellectual ability to deal with this kind of content," said Karen Withers, Round Rock Parent and Teacher. After learning there are several books with similar "content" that her son could check out, Karen Withers would like to see the type of rating system used for movies, music and video games for books as well. Withers said the issue is not about just "TTYL" and the Round Rock school district, but about numerous books in libraries across the country. "We want to trust our schools are safe for our children," said Withers.

In an interview with KXAN, Lauren Myracle defended herself and her book. Ms. Myracle said that she wrote the book for high schoolers.  "It is a story about real life girls struggling with real problems,"  In the interview, she pointed out that the very week the book was banned from Round Rock middle schools,  a Round Rock High School coach was accused of having a sexual relationship with a student.  "It does suggest yeah these things happen," she said. 

Have your children read Lauren Myracle's novels?  Do you think that some books are too advanced for middle schoolers?  Should they be pulled off library shelves?