This Banned Books Week (Oct. 4-10), Marylanders should pay attention to what is happening on our local school boards. In Harford County, for example, a court will hear arguments later this month about the school board’s decision to yank “Flamer” from all library school shelves.
“Flamer” tells the story of Aiden, a Filipino American teenager spending the summer at Boy Scout camp before his first year of high school. He is struggling to figure out who he is. He’s embarrassed. He’s bullied. He prays. He tries to square his faith, which is central to him, with his realization that he is attracted to other boys. At one low point, he thinks about ending his life. Near the end, a letter arrives from his best friend back home, hand-lettered on the page: “There is nothing wrong with you.”
The semi-autobiographical, vividly illustrated graphic novel by Mike Curato has been lauded by critics as “a book that will save lives.” One Horn Book reviewer wrote that it speaks to kids going through exactly what Aiden does, adding, “I wish I had had this book fifty years ago.”
For a time, “Flamer” was available to Harford County students who might want to read it. No student was required to. And any parent who didn’t want their kid to read it could say so.
Then a Harford parent asked that “Flamer” be removed from school libraries after seeing a Fox News report about it. She hadn’t read the book but feared it might “plants seeds in the heads of children.”
