Polk County book review panel votes to return 'More Happy Than Not' to school library shelves
LAKELAND — A panel of 18 people recommended that Adam Silvera’s “More Happy Than Not” remain in Polk County Public Schools’ libraries, although the panel was split on the grade level to which it should be available.
It was the final book among 16 that a conservative group complained to PCPS Superintendent Frederick Heid “contained pornography” or was “harmful to children” and possibly violated Florida law.
Eight members of the group voted to keep it at middle and high schools, eight voted to keep it at the high school level only, while one person voted to put the book in all grade levels and one person voted to remove it from all libraries.
The book had been available at Davenport, George Jenkins, Haines City, Kathleen, Lake Region, and Ridge Community High schools, along with Fort Meade Middle-Senior High School. Documents provided by PCPS show it was checked out one time at Ridge Community High School in the previous school year.
Heid recommended the book, a coming-of-age novel about a high school student living in extreme poverty in New York City coming to terms with his homosexuality, remain in high school libraries, but also be allowed in middle school media centers, as well.
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How it began
The issue in Polk schools began late last year when County Citizens Defending Freedom found that 16 books the group deems objectionable were available in PCPS media centers. None of the books are required-reading in any Polk County public school. CCDF said the books are “harmful to children” or meet the definition of pornography under Florida State Statutes 847.001 and 847.012. Distributing pornography to minors is a third-degree felony.
They used complaint forms filled out by people outside of Polk County who belong to another conservative group called Florida Citizens Alliance, based in Naples. The group issued a “Porn in Schools Report” last year.
Heid placed the books in “quarantine” at the end of January until they could be reviewed and it could be determined whether they were pornographic, harmful or age-inappropriate.
Two committees were formed to read and review eight books each. The committees consisted of 17 adults each, including parents, teachers, counselors, librarians and members of the group that filed the complaint. In addition, more than a dozen students were rotating participation for each review.
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The committees have now approved keeping all 16 books in schools at appropriate age levels. They are:
“Beloved” and “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
“Drama” by Raina Telgemeier
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer
“George” by Alex Gino
“It’s Perfectly Normal” by Robie Harrison
“The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini
“Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult
“The Vincent Boys” by Abbi Glines
“Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher
“Real Live Boyfriends” by e. lockhart
“Tricks” by Ellen Hopkins
“I Am Jazz” by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, and illustrated by Shalagh McNicholas
“Almost Perfect” by Brian Katcher
“Two Boys Kissing" by David Levithan
“More Happy Than Not” by Adam Silvera
'More Happy Than Not'
“More Happy Than Not” was a National Book Award finalist and tells the story of Aaron Soto, a teen in New York City whose father has committed suicide in the family’s one-bedroom apartment — shared by Aaron, his working mother and brother. He struggles with coming to terms with his homosexuality and trying to forget who he really is. It involves sexual scenes, fighting, drug use, and promiscuity.
Terry Coney, president of the Lakeland branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he found the work valuable for students.
"The purpose this book was to give clarity to the subject of homosexuality and then for young person trying to navigate being gay in a majority heterosexual world,” Coney said.
Parent Abby Burr said it was a "fictionalized and relatable coming-of-age story of, in urban neighborhoods, young people, and the consequences of both denying and living one’s truth.”
Jill Dorsett, a retired educator and a member of Concerned Citizens of Polk, said it was about “the mental health struggles faced by an individual struggling with sexual identity and how he grew to begin accepting his identity through love and compassion from his family and friends.
“I think it goes with anyone, whether you're gay or straight, trauma is trauma and the effects of trauma on peoples lives — and some of the extents that people go through to wash over it or try to forget it — but no matter what, you know your true self is your true self and it's gonna always come through,” she said.
Dr. Richard Marshall, a child psychologist in private practice said reading the book would result in a more compassionate understanding of people.
“I grew up in an era when boys beat up boys if they were gay,” Marshall said. “You'd like to think that's over. But that was game — people were fair game for the for most of the boys that I grew up with. And here again, we see that the plight of the marginalized other. A theme that runs through all the books that are most of the books that we reviewed. It’s sad that now elected officials, rather than using fists and feet, are using laws, restrictions and prohibitions — ’just don't say gay’ — to beat up boys, to beat up gays.”
By the way: Polk County book review panels approve 3 books on LGBTQ topics for school libraries
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Nicole Grassel-Torres, an English teachers at Haines City High School, said books allow the reader to enter the world of a character they might not otherwise have considered relating to or with whom they might not otherwise empathize.
"Then you have a character who has experienced unimaginable pain, a character who believes in things that you may not believe in, a character who has battled against all of the prescribed expectations forced upon them,” Grassel-Torres said. “In other words, a character who broadens or not your mind, like Aaron does. These characters can do one of two things, give readers examples of how not to cope with trauma, or give them examples of characters who push through and overcome adversity. Aaron’s character, oddly enough, does both of those things and allows readers the opportunity to reflect and become compassionate and understanding to teens who have been dealt unimaginable odds, and, at the very end, after some time — not right away — he accepts himself and moves on. Students need to be given the opportunity to learn this for themselves, and this book is a great tool to help them learn that.”
Michael Sherry, a University of South Florida English professor, also spoke about trauma and allowing students the chance to see themselves in a books and solutions to things they might be enduring..
“To take that away from young readers is to miss the point that all of these books are about, because that's such an important part of knowing that you're not alone and I think this book really does a good job of both, you know, giving us a glimpse into other people's lives and our own, but also there's so much to identify with and find commonality with,” Sherry said. "There are things that we read that I wouldn't want my child to read. But I don't think that that's a reason to take the book out of the library. I think that's a choice that I make with my family and I believe in protecting the choice, the possibility of choice, and I think there's another law, or at least a policy in the district that says that a book cannot be removed from a library because it is offensive to some. And I think that's a really important one to keep in mind, too.”
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Holly Barnett, a parent of children at Lakeland High School and Winston Academy, shared with the group about the moment she knew she was a lesbian.
"I remember being at my pretty, you know, really super expensive college and, like, freaking out because I realized that I was lesbian and I was going to have to tell my church, God, mom,” she said, noting that she didn’t have to do that while coping with extreme poverty like Aaron. “I had a house and a family, and I knew how, I had some skills, and that I would be able to get a job. … It was difficult for me to kind of like balance between the fact that he's got all of this trauma and all of this emotional stuff ... there was just this socioeconomic piece. It was so glaring to me. That was one of the things that really kind of like pulled up my heart, I guess, and made me feel a lot for the particular character outside of his, you know, his sexuality or the suicide and the parents situation.”
Furthering the debate
Barnett and CCDF member Kathy Bucklew then shared differing viewpoints.
"I don't think it matters whether I enjoy the book or you enjoy the theme of the book or think the writing is excellent or we get wrapped up in the plot or even if the plot is good and a lot of the things you said about the book are true,” Bucklew said. "It matters if the book is appropriate for minors and a minor doesn't make that decision, though a minor can have a good decision.”
Bucklew listed the things she felt violated Florida statute, including an attitude against abstinence, use of vulgar language, sex scenes, homosexual sex, excessive violence, disparagement of religious beliefs.
"To me, the language alone should take it out of our library and it's a shame because I think it could be a good, good book that students can relate to,” Bucklew said. “But there are age-appropriate books that have these themes that students can relate to, and I would love to see us find those and try to exclude those that have the kinds of things that are so negative, that even though students may talk about them, it's not the kind of thing that we as an institution should be making available to them.”
Barnett pushed back, saying the things happening in the book are happening to Polk county teenagers.
"I feel like you're assessing a level of shame to those kids that then introduce things like self-harm and suicide and coping mechanisms when they get older in their life where nobody laid out what the path was supposed to be," said Barnett. "They never saw a gay character in a book, so they leave … I just really, really feel like pretending like this is not the day and the time and the place where we're living in is more harmful to these kids that are going to grow up and be the adults that run our entire world.”
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Bucklew countered that there are state laws for a reason — to protect children.
"I agree with you. We need books about gay people and gay lifestyle. We need books about sex and things, but we need them that are age appropriate and that teach children or show children that yes, I've been here, I can bring myself up, there is hope for me, there is hope for the world, There is something good that I can do with my life and my situation,” Bucklew said. “I don't think this book is one of those. I don't think children should be in a bubble either, but I think they need to be in a protected environment because they’re children.”
Trinity “Chandler” Silva, a senior at Harrison School for the Arts, is non-binary, meaning they identify as neither male nor female. They said they found Silvera’s book “They Both Die at the End” when they were in middle school. They said it was the first time they found characters who were like them.
“Up until the point where I got a chance to read something like that, I thought something was wrong with me. If you never get a chance to understand that you're not alone, it makes you think there's something wrong you,” Silva said. “I think if I hadn't found that book at that point in my life, I probably wouldn't have been where I am as a writer. Getting into the writing school that I got into literally saved my life.”
Heid is proposing placing at least some of the 16 books behind the check-out desk in media centers and having parents opt their children into reading them, along with allowing parents to opt out of any book in their child's media center. A decision will be made on that over the summer.
CCDF is now threatening to sue the school district.
'More Happy Than Not' votes:
One vote to remove from all libraries
One vote to keep at ALL school levels
Eight votes to keep the book at middle and high school levels
Eight votes to keep the book at high school level only
Superintendent’s Recommendation: Retain in middle and high school levels
Ledger reporter Kimberly C. Moore can be reached at kmoore@theledger.com or 863-802-7514. Follow her on Twitter at @KMooreTheLedger.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: 'More Happy Than Not' to return to Polk County School library shelves
