censorship

I got a call yesterday from the curriculum director in the district where I literacy coach part time. There's a mom of a middle school student who wants a book pulled from the shelves. The curriculum director wants me at the meeting, and I read the book on the plane today. Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott is the book. It was a really disturbing book about a girl kidnapped at 10 and raped repeatedly every day for the next five years. It's full of horrific imagery and I would not want my own middle schoolers to read it.

At first I thought about how there are so many books dealing with sexual violence that I've read lately. I hate these books, so I need to stop. Books like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and Room, among others. But those books are marketed as Adult Fiction, as opposed to this book, marketed as YA Lit. It's listed for 16+ most places, which our middle schoolers are not.

But I have such a hard time thinking about pulling a book off a library shelf. I think teachers and parents should help kids select appropriate books. But this really is so disturbing, I'm not sure it is appropriate for any middle school age kiddo. I'm not sure what to advise here.