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Inappropriate reading book (in my opinion)
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adea
Posts: 448 Forumite
My 11 year old daughter is in year 6 at Primary school.
She and others in her class, including 10 year olds, have been given a book to read called 'Noughts and Crosses' by Malorie Blackman.
When she first got the book, she showed me a sentence that said "I didn't rape her!"
My reaction was one of slight bemusement.
She then read the first 2 chapters and in that a male character slapped his wife across the face and she fell to the floor.
Later on in the chapter, it described the main two characters a 14 year old girl and 15 year old boy, kissing for the first time. My daughter felt very embarrassed and did not want to read that aloud.
She came home yesterday and said that later on in the book, the principal characters have sex.
I read further on in the book and there were descriptions of more domestic abuse, heavy petting between the two characters, the girl getting drunk, and later having sex. No intimate parts were mentioned but it was definitely a "sex scene". Later in the book, it is revealed that she is pregnant.
After reading this, my husband who was unhappy at the slap part at the beginning, said that she is not allowed to read anymore and we will be taking the matter up with the headteacher.
I spoke to the mother of a friend of our daughter and she was not happy either. She hadn't been very impressed when her 11 year old daughter asked her what "tonguing" is, as she had read that in the book!
I also posted about it on the dreaded Facebook and others were in agreement that it's not appropriate reading for year 6.
My question is, are we overreacting to this or would you think the same as we do?
She and others in her class, including 10 year olds, have been given a book to read called 'Noughts and Crosses' by Malorie Blackman.
When she first got the book, she showed me a sentence that said "I didn't rape her!"
My reaction was one of slight bemusement.
She then read the first 2 chapters and in that a male character slapped his wife across the face and she fell to the floor.
Later on in the chapter, it described the main two characters a 14 year old girl and 15 year old boy, kissing for the first time. My daughter felt very embarrassed and did not want to read that aloud.
She came home yesterday and said that later on in the book, the principal characters have sex.
I read further on in the book and there were descriptions of more domestic abuse, heavy petting between the two characters, the girl getting drunk, and later having sex. No intimate parts were mentioned but it was definitely a "sex scene". Later in the book, it is revealed that she is pregnant.
After reading this, my husband who was unhappy at the slap part at the beginning, said that she is not allowed to read anymore and we will be taking the matter up with the headteacher.
I spoke to the mother of a friend of our daughter and she was not happy either. She hadn't been very impressed when her 11 year old daughter asked her what "tonguing" is, as she had read that in the book!
I also posted about it on the dreaded Facebook and others were in agreement that it's not appropriate reading for year 6.
My question is, are we overreacting to this or would you think the same as we do?
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Comments
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You are entitled to be concerned and entitled to keep your child ignorant of a society with so many double standards for as long as possible.However you are fighting a losing battle (in my opinion)"if the state cannot find within itself a place for those who peacefully refuse to worship at its temples, then it’s the state that’s become extreme".Revd Dr Giles Fraser on Radio 4 20170
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Not through school, but my daughter was given this at about the same age. I haven't read the book so I can't really comment but it doesn't seem to have affected her.
I think you should read the whole book (maybe you have) so that it is seen in context. You could read lots into Shakespeare, etc,but as its in old fashioned words we don't seem to worry!
Maybe the conversations in class about the book are of benefit to the children.
You may have a point but you have to see the whole lesson planning and learning objectives behind it.Never again will the wolf get so close to my door :eek:0 -
I agree with you.
As parents we would have made an appointment to see the head as well.0 -
In Year six we had sex education classes as part of the syllabus, is this designed to tie in with those? It may be a way of prompting discussion within the context of the book and characters.
Maybe this is a good time to talk to your daughter about it all.
I haven't read the book but I don't think year 6 is too young to start introducing those sort of topics and relationships.0 -
I would write to the school with photocopies of the offending passages. IMO a detailed description of heavy petting is inappropriate for primary six.0
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In Year six we had sex education classes as part of the syllabus, is this designed to tie in with those? It may be a way of prompting discussion within the context of the book and characters.
Maybe this is a good time to talk to your daughter about it all.
I haven't read the book but I don't think year 6 is too young to start introducing those sort of topics and relationships.
If you were going to introduce the subject of relationships, why would you start with those that are abusive?0 -
You are entitled to be concerned and entitled to keep your child ignorant of a society with so many double standards for as long as possible.However you are fighting a losing battle (in my opinion)
I agree that society does have many double standards but we should still stand up for what we believe is right no matter how hard it is to do so.0 -
lika, they had sex education in Year 5, so it is not to tie in with that but thank you for your idea.0
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missbiggles1 wrote: »If you were going to introduce the subject of relationships, why would you start with those that are abusive?
Because not every relationship is good and great and teaching children to recognise those that aren't acceptable is a great lesson.0
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