Texas parents are expressing outrage over their 14-year-old’s being assigned the novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower, describing the book that discusses rape and abortion as ‘pornographic.’
Parents at Eastlake High School in El Paso are concerned about their teen children reading Stephen Chbosky’s 1999 novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower without parental consent due to the sexually graphic nature of the book.
The book follows 15-year-old protagonist Charlie, a socially awkward teenager grappling with past traumas who comes out of his shell when he meets free-spirited friends Sam and Patrick.
The book freely covers the drug use, alcohol consumption and sex life of high school-aged characters.
This is not the first time Chbosky’s coming of age novel has had parents in an uproar, over the last decade the book was one of the most frequently banned or challenged books in states like Wyoming, Ohio and Virginia.
Eastlake parent Elda Marmolejos (pictured) said she feels the book should not be assigned to such a young age group, especially with out parental consent
Marmolejos holds a copy of Stephen Chbosky’s 1999 novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower
The best-selling book had a successful film adaption in 2012 starring Emma Watson, Ezra Miller and Logan Lerman.
One of the parents speaking out is Elda Marmolejos, who said she feels the book should not be assigned to such a young age group, especially without parental consent.
Marmolejos was especially outraged with ‘very graphic and inappropriate’ portions of the books that cover a teenager being raped and then getting an abortion without parental consent and a part of the book where two boys have sex.
‘My concern is that my child was assigned a very inappropriate book by his English Teacher. There was no parent consent form sent out for me to sign,’ she told KLFY.com ‘He basically said that the book was graphic and they needed to act like adults. The content is very inappropriate.’
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The book had a successful film adaption in 2012 starring Emma Watson, Ezra Miller and Logan Lerman (cast pictured)
Socorro Independent School District said that parents are allowed to request a formal review and added the school and the district will review how parents are notified about books with a graphic nature being used in class
Marmolejos met with school administrators, including the principal of Eastlake High and school librarians, to voice her concerns but she said she felt they spent the entire meeting defending the book and convincing her it followed policy, KLFY.com reported.
‘Is the content appropriate for the freshman? I think you and I can both agree its very very questionable. It’s probably not the most appropriate,’ a school administrator said during the meeting.
Socorro Independent School District told KTSM 9 that parents are allowed to request a formal review and said the school and the district will review how parents are notified about books with a graphic nature being used in class.
But Marmolejos said she is willing to go beyond school administrators to protect her children from the book and alert Texas governor Greg Abbott, who has previously signed an executive order banning pornography from public schools.
A passage from Stephen Chbosky’s 1999 novel that Eastlake High School parents are describing as ‘pornographic’
The 1999 book freely covers the drug use, alcohol consumption and sex life of high school-aged characters
Abbott previously spoke about the state law.
‘Parents they want their child to go school and learn not to be indoctrinated into something that would involve pornography,’ he said. ‘My job as governor and the job of education leaders in the state is to make sure we are educating our children to be competitive in the workforce not indoctrinating them with things like pornography.’
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