To the Editor:

Pre-adolescence and adolescence are very difficult times for youth. Not only are boys and girls going through physical and psychological change, working through the ins and outs of their identities, but perhaps for the first time they recognize they are becoming adults and soon will need to make their own decisions.

Because youths are trying to determine who they are and how that relates to what others expect, bullying becomes even more difficult to handle. It’s a time, sadly, when many young people consider suicide. Better to be gone than deal with damaging opinions of others. “Perhaps others are right. I don’t fit in. I’m the problem not them.”

How many people who are concerned about Flamer actually read it?

It’s anything but pornographic. It’s a sensitive portrayal of what most youth have gone through for generations — even those who find this book offensive. In 1964, the Supreme Court heard a case about pornography. In his ruling, then Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart stated that though he had found it difficult to define exactly what pornography was legally, “I know it when I see it.”

Flamer is not pornographic or worse, “disgusting.” There are no explicit sexual acts or scenes that elicit the reader’s sexual desire.

What would those who are concerned about Flamer say if it was about a boy being bullied because he was of a certain nationality, suffered a physical or mental health disability, or was poor or clumsy? Why does the fact that the book partially deals with sexuality make it pornographic?

Flamer is a carefully crafted, loving coming of age story. Here’s a pre-teen boy not only struggling with sexuality concerns, but being overweight and not being a jock. He’s also worrying about family issues and how he is viewed by his church. It stresses the importance of friendship and support of understanding adults.

A few BOE members are not responsible for deciding whether a book is appropriate for the whole of the community’s children. Nor is it suitable to have an app that alerts the library when a book is being checked out. What a horrible embarrassment for the student and an unnecessary burden placed on the media specialist.

This is a discussion between parents and their children. If parents are concerned about what their children are reading, they need to read the book in its entirety and then discuss it in the privacy of their home.

This is where the responsibility rests.

Sharon L. Cohen

Jean-Henry Mathurin

Newtown