By Mallie Jane Kim

Internet controversy over a novel taught to Ward Melville High School juniors spilled over into the public comment section of a board of education meeting Wednesday, Sept. 27, when two concerned parents stood up to support the book and caution against efforts to ban it.

The book in question, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie and a multi-award winner, is a semi-autobiographical novel about a young Native American growing up on an Indian reservation who leaves his underfunded reservation school in favor of a majority-white public school in a neighboring town. The problem expressed by some parents is that in this coming-of-age story about a teenage boy struggling to discover his identity, there are a few passages where the speaker discusses his sexual self-discovery.

The administration has received calls in favor of and against the novel, but there have been no official requests from parents of students actually studying the book, according to Assistant Superintendent for Educational Services Brian Biscari. “It’s a bigger online issue than an actual issue,” Biscari said.

The controversy started when a parent shared a passage mentioning self-pleasure in a screenshot on a local Facebook group, Three Village Moms, where it was both attacked and supported in a series of nearly 500 comments. Some commenters expressed concern over sexualizing children too early, or that the passages may be too explicit for required reading in a Regents course.

Others asked their peers to consider the passage in context of the entire book, or worried the rhetoric might foment into a movement to ban the book, in light of efforts to censor literature at school districts nationwide.

The American Library Association has noted a “record surge” in requests to remove books from libraries and public schools during the first eight months of 2023, and primarily books “by or about a person of color of a member of the LGBTQIA+ community,” according to a Sept. 19 statement.

At the board meeting, district parent Ian Farber said exposure to an unfamiliar point of view is one of this book’s strengths. “This book provides a valuable perspective of a Native American who grew up on a reservation, a perspective that would be foreign to many of us without books like this one,” said Farber, who has also been a part of the district’s budget advisory committee.

Farber shrugged off the concerns over the passages about an aspect of human sexuality that, he said, most students know about by 11th grade. Instead, he praised the “robust and diverse” curriculum in Three Village school district and emphasized that the passages causing outrage are not even a main point of the book.

“He had a teacher that inspired him to do more with his life than previous generations — we should all want our children to achieve more than we have. This is a key part of the American Dream, and as such this book is patriotic in the best sense of the word.”

Anne Chimelis, a retired teacher and parent in the district, agreed in her public comment. “If we start banning books due to a single word that makes some people uncomfortable, we’re going down a very slippery slope,” she said.

Biscari noted that the district is happy to provide a list of novels taught in Three Village schools to parents who ask, and there is a clear process for parents to request for a materials review for novels in their child’s grade level if they have a concern. If that process does not go the way parents hope, he added, each parent is also welcome to opt a child out of a particular book.

On Alexie’s book, though, Biscari said most of the calls he’s gotten are from parents “who love the fact that there’s a book their kids can read and relate to.”