On November 14, a 20-year-old woman named Lanah Burkhardt appeared before the school board of the Conroe Independent School District in Texas. Burkhardt told the board that, when she was 11, she read a Scholastic book that introduced her to "a single kiss." According to Burkhardt, her exposure to this Scholastic book was directly responsible for her developing a debilitating addiction to pornography.

Burkhardt’s gambit has already had an impact. The Conroe school board, after listening to her story, voted to restrict access to Drama, the Scholastic book featuring a kiss, from all students in the 8th grade and below. One of the school board members, Melissa Dungan, suggested replacing Scholastic with SkyTree Book Fairs. “All glory to God,” Burkhardt posted in response to the news.

  • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
    35·
    11 months ago

    Drama? By Raina Telgemeier? My third and fifth graders love that book series, along with Guts, Smile, Ghosts, and Sisters. Excellent books for young kids. Fuck bigots banning books.

    • TechyDad@lemmy.world
      13·
      11 months ago

      The article also shows the kissing scene in question. It’s possibly the tamest kissing scene possible. If seeing this sends a person into a debilitating porn addiction, then the problem rests with them and not with the book.

      Of course, given that she works for a “competitor” of Scholastic, I highly doubt her story is true. The author and Scholastic should sue her for defamation.