Homosexual Book for 1st Graders

World Net Daily ^ | March 19, 2004 | SiskiyouSam

[SiskiyouSam]

Homosexual book for 1st-graders

Parents outraged over story where prince finds love with another prince

© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

A North Carolina couple is outraged by a book their first-grade daughter brought home from the school library in which a prince finds his true love – in the form of another prince.

The leading character in "King & King," Prince Bertie, waves off a bevy of eligible princesses before falling for Prince Lee, Associated Press reported. The book ends with the two "marrying" and sharing a kiss.

"I was flabbergasted," Michael Hartsell of Wilmington, N.C., told the news service. "My child is not old enough to understand something like that, especially when it is not in our beliefs."

AP reports the 32-page book by Linda De Haan and Stern Nijland was published in March 2002 by Tricycle Press, the children's division of Ten Speed Press of Berkeley, Calif. A follow-up, "King & King & Family," was recently published. The publisher says the book is intended for readers age 6 and up.

The principal of Freeman Elementary School defended the book.

"What might be inappropriate for one family, in another family is a totally acceptable thing," Principal Elizabeth Miars is quoted as saying.

Hartsell and his wife, Tonya, said they intend to file a written complaint with the committee that reviews library books for the district and are considering transferring their daughter.

[SiskiyouSam]

Why "consider transferring their daughter" If it were my child, she'd be in a different school on Monday.

A similar thing happened to my daughter in her public school kindergarten. The first book she brought home was about a lovely little old lady in town "who happened to be a witch". After confronting the teacher about it, she exclaimed that "everybody loves the book!"

The next week my daughter was enrolled in a private school and has been there since.

[eddie willers]

Look Look Look
Dick Dick Dick

[baltimoreman]

SICK

[pipecorp]

This is why God invented home schooling. Besides, I thought everyone knew he was the artist formerly known as prince. ;)

[Viking2002]

"What might be inappropriate for one family, in another family is a totally acceptable thing," Principal Elizabeth Miars is quoted as saying.

Who does this pig think she's kidding?!? Wilmington, North Carolina isn't exactly the gay bath house capitol of The South. The arrogance of these union-protected eduNazis is stunning.

[Hildy]

Can it get any worse for young girls? First they're told that rarely does a man turn out to be a "PRINCE," and now they're told that rarely will a PRINCE turn out to be a "MAN."

[SiskiyouSam]

Not only that, but even if you're a princess, you may still lose out to another prince. EGADS!

[GulliverSwift]

She also fails to realize the absurdity of her statement. If it's okay to offend some families, does that mean that the library should carry anti-black or anti-semitic books, too? After all, "What might be inappropriate for one family, in another family is a totally acceptable thing."

[Viking2002]

Exactly. Slip a copy of 'Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby' onto the bookshelf, or a DVD of 'Song Of The South' into the A/V department's media collection, and she'd go right up the flue. Her motives are as transparant as her intellect is shallow.

[SiskiyouSam]

Here's another angle from the Washington Times...

It received honorable mention in the "most unusual book of the year" category for Publishers Weekly 2002 "Off the Cuff Awards."

WOOHOO! Break out the champagne, honey, We're partying tonight!

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20040318-112308-7862r.htm

Gay princes book irks girl's parents


By Joyce Howard Price
THE WASHINGTON TIMES


An elementary school in Wilmington, N.C., has put in its library a book about two princes who fall in love and "marry," prompting outrage from the parents of a first-grade girl who brought the book home.
Michael and Tonya Hartsell want to know how the publishers of "King & King," by Dutch authors Linda De Haan and Stern Nijland, determined it is appropriate for readers age 6 and up, as the publishers claim.
"I was flabbergasted. My child is not old enough to understand something like that, especially when it's not in our beliefs," Mr. Hartsell said.
The 32-page book tells the story of Prince Bertie, who rejects the chance to marry a bevy of eligible princesses and, instead, chooses Prince Lee, the brother of one of the royal candidates, as his mate. At the end of the book, the two princes seal their love with a kiss, and they "marry."
A sequel due out later this spring, "King & King & Family," describes how Prince Bertie and Prince Lee adopt a little girl named Princess Daisy, according to Nicole Geiger, founder and head of Tricycle Press, the books' publisher. Tricycle Press is the children's division of Ten Speed Press of Berkeley, Calif.
"Reality is changing. There are a lot of alternative families in this country, and we publish books for them. We want to show same-sex love as being warm-hearted and sincere. Any child in any situation needs to be recognized. They don't deserve wrath and scorn," Ms. Geiger said in a telephone interview.
"You can't make children feel valuable by validating immoral behavior," said Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute, an affiliate of Concerned Women for America. He does not believe children in grade school should be reading "King & King" or its sequel.
Ms. Geiger noted that "King & King" was reviewed by a handful of reputable reviewers of children's books, including the School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, the Horn Books Magazine and Publishers Weekly.
It received honorable mention in the "most unusual book of the year" category for Publishers Weekly 2002 "Off the Cuff Awards."
The San Francisco Chronicle called the tome "progressive" and "inclusive." The Philadelphia Gay News said it was a "great book to teach young readers about same-sex couples."
But Mr. Knight is appalled with the message of both "King & King" and "King & King & Family."
"What a message to send a little girl: that a mommy isn't necessary," he said.
Elizabeth Mars, principal of Rachel Freeman Elementary where the Hartsell child got the book, did not return repeated phone calls from The Washington Times yesterday, but she told the Associated Press that "What might be inappropriate for one family, in another family, is a totally acceptable thing."
The school librarian, Barbara Hawley, declined to say if she knowingly selected a book about homosexual "marriage" for inclusion in the library.
Mr. Knight said the person or persons who chose the book should be fired.
"They were either ignorant of what it was about or think it's OK to promote the homosexual agenda to schoolchildren," he said.
The Hartsells plan to file a written complaint with the New Hanover County School District, which has a panel to reviews books whose appropriateness has been challenged.
"A decision will be made after the Media Advisory Committee has completed the appeals process," said D. John Morris Jr., superintendent of the New Hanover County School District, adding that this is the first complaint he has received about the book.

[satchmodog9]

I bet there are no books on guns or military hardware there.

[SiskiyouSam]

Wait a sec... only an honorable mention? I wonder what actually won the most unusual book of the year? "My daddy and his garden hose are best friends!" "Auto-fellatio: Why and How" "A day in the life of my grandma's dildo" ?!?!?!?

[justanotherday]

"A kiss is the unborn child knocking at the door.)"

Huh? I guess I'd better be careful next time I kiss my Mom.:>

[VRWC_minion]

Happily Ever After
By Jennifer Vanasco
Originally appeared March 26, 2003, in the Chicago Free Press.
“King & King,” a children's book by Dutch authors Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland, begins ordinarily enough.

A grouchy queen wants her lazy son to get married — so she decrees that he must find a princess by the end of the summer.

“Very well, Mother,” he says. “I must say, though, I've never cared much for princesses.”

The prince's young attendant gives a sly wink.

Even so, princesses trot in from every corner of the globe for his inspection. From Texas. From Greenland. From Mumbai. Yet the prince is bored, unhappy. No young lady seems just right.

Then Princess Madeline enters. The young prince perks up. He has found love!

But it is not with the princess. It is with her brother, Prince Lee. Little hearts flow between them on the page. There is handholding, a kiss and a marriage — and of course a happily ever after.

Gay and lesbian couples with young children are already familiar with the lovely “King & King,” which debuted a year ago this month (and three years ago in the more progressive Netherlands, which in 2000 approved gay marriage). But Chicago Tribune columnist Dawn Turner Trice was not — and she was appalled.

Price learned about the book from “concerned parents” at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, a private school originally founded by philosopher John Dewey as a place of hands-on experience. Every year, the Lab Schools' children think critically about children's books, judging their merits and awarding the Zena Sutherland Award to their favorites. They read books chosen by their librarians and narrow them down to five multicultural, multiracial finalists that represent both genders.

But this year, Trice says in her column, one of the finalists — “King & King” — “has upset some parents who felt that they should have been notified that their parents were reading a book that deals with homosexuality.”

Though Trice calls the book “well-conceived,” she compares it with other “sexual material” like song lyrics and suggestive clothing. “So at least, in my mind,” she says, “that makes this column less about bigotry and narrow-mindedness (although some parents certainly found the content of “King & King” disturbing) than about parents helping kids stay kids in an oversexed society.”

Trice, who is African-American, also acknowledges that in years past, some parents would have flipped out over the fact that prince is considering a “mocha-colored” princess from Mombai. “Which emphasizes the fact that the line that governs what's acceptable continues to move for some even though it remains steadfast for others,” she says.

Nevertheless, she added, she wouldn't show the book to her own second grader just yet. “When it's time to talk about such things, I may pull the book out,” she says. “But I would like to have that choice.” Parents should be warned, she says, before being forced to discuss homosexuality or sex with their children.

What Trice is forgetting, of course, is that “King & King” is no more about sex than is any of a hundred other fairy tales, from Disney's beloved Cinderella and Snow White to The Little Mermaid. (Of course, the original, more graphic and gory folktales may, indeed, be about sex, but for the most part we have sanitized them for our children.) “King & King” is about the social rituals and inner attractions of love and partnership.

Even if it were about sex, she is ignoring that no parent is able to choose the timeline for their children's curiosity. No families live in a bubble. Children may ask about sex at three when they see a dog mounting

another dog or when another child mentions something about it on the playground at eight — or they might never ask. When is a parent ever truly ready for their children to grow up?

But most importantly, Trice is forgetting one crucial fact: not only will some children at Lab grow up to be gay themselves, but some children who attend Lab have parents who are lesbian or gay. I don't know where Trice's child goes, but it is likely that her second grader also knows children who come from gay families.

As results continue to come in from the 2000 census, we have recently learned that one-third of the nearly 300,000 lesbian couples and one-fifth of the slightly more than 300,000 male couples who identified themselves as “unmarried partners” are living with children under 18. In conservative states, as many as 40 percent of the lesbian “unmarried partners” are raising children.

In fact, says the Washington Post, “43 percent of unmarried couples living together [including both gay and straight couples] are raising children, nearly matching the 46 percent figure for the nation's married couples. And the trend is climbing for unmarried couples, while it is becoming less and less common for married couples to have children living with them.”

The number of children with gay and lesbian parents is rising as more gays and lesbians take the mother (and father) road; and as more and more children of gay parents spread through the school system, straight parents will need to face the reality that their child's best friend may well have two mommies or two daddies.

That means that Dawn Turner Trice and other parents like her need to wake up and smell the lavender. Gay families exist. They are everywhere. And yes, just like all families, they are about love.

[SiskiyouSam]

Check out the school's report card. A full 32% of their students don't even read at their grade level. Could be they're still trying to figure out why 2 princes are kissing each other.

http://www.ncreportcards.org/src/schDetails.jsp?Page=2&pSchCode=312&pLEACode=650&pYear=2001-2002

[SiskiyouSam]

School's phone number is 910-251-6011.

Still looking for an email for the principal.

[SiskiyouSam]

Here it is:

freeman@nhcs.k12.nc.us

and check out the physical address of the school:

2601 Princess Place Drive
Wilmington, NC 28405

Prncess Place! You gotta love it!

[Iscool]

"What might be inappropriate for one family, in another family is a totally acceptable thing," Principal Elizabeth Miars is quoted as saying.

I'd like for someone to show me just one normal family that doesn't care one way or the other if their son grows up to be a queer...It's a pity this family doesn't get with other parents and pull all their kids out of the school...

[Warlord David]

Ever since the Britney-Mandona kiss the gays have gone overboard. The so call official and expert are not even tring to stop this sinko stuff and now are educating childern to be good little gays! Total sick.

[HungarianGypsy]

My family lives in a bubble. My husband and I may know some gay or transgendered people, but my children have never met them. They don't have any friends who's parents are gay either. We just don't go out of our way to seek them out. I guess I should take my kids down to the local night spots asap, so they can be more naturally curious about these things.