Opinion: January 2025 Book Appeals 4
The Other Boy by MG Hennessey
I was concerned when I asked for the “Library Staff Review” forms for Mrs. Bence’s appeals that only the newly hired Columbia County Librarian had filled out the form. According to the policy, at least 2 other librarians are also supposed to weigh-in. I reached out about this and was advised by the Community Services Director that there wasn’t time to convene an entire Review Committee for these books, in order to have the reviewed before the next Advisory Board Meeting, but if the County Advisory Board would like the other 2 librarians’ input, then they could request it. I was also advised that the process was not changing and that a full Review Committee would be formed for all Reconsiderations in the future per the policy posted below.
Side Note: The library’s copy of The Other Boy was checked out so I purchased a copy. This may be relevant as the page numbers I reference might be different than the library copy’s page numbers.
The Other Boy by M.G. Hennessey
Karin’s Summary: Shane is a 12 year old 6th grade transgender boy. He loves to play baseball, has a best friend named Josh, and has a crush on a girl named Madeline. Nobody at his school knows he’s transgender, at first. This book is about Shane’s journey to live openly with the support of his friends and family.
Prior Placement: Middle Ground (11-14)
Librarian’s Recommendation: Teen (14-18)
Mrs. Bence’s preference: Adult Books
The next one is the Other Boy. The Other Boy has the same theme of a gentle book pushing the trans agenda. Because the plot can see of the hero having crush after crush on other girls. Now the hero is a girl, but now he identifies. But now she identifies as a boy. Underlying drastic hormone blockers and now testosterone because his parents over payed his very low. You don't learn that this character is a girl till chapter four when his father's fiance asks him to be a bridesmaid and he loses it. Chapter five explains that he's always been since age three. She wanted to be a boy and argued that his friend Matt could be a boy without a peanut. When he was using peanut for the word penis, I never heard that. So he did not want to have the peanuts, the penis, so he wanted to be a girl. Both parents are busy vying for acceptance and they spoil him. So no matter what he thinks, he's in charge, he can be the girl. He would gradually become the hero through the book like they always do. They will grow sexually and confuse. I'm reading the last sentence here. This soft propaganda pulls one with its great conversations where you feel the love and acceptance of his friend Josh. But in the background as you read, realize that authority and rules have no place in his life. The author makes fun of the Catholic school and his friend switches over to Hollywood Vine. It may seem innocuous that there are crushes one after the other, but no actual porn. They're not actually having sex in this book. But this is still early sexualizing that 8 year olds who are good readers and will be choosing this book in middle ground have no need to be exploited in this philosophy. So I recommend, even though I found this in middle ground, just casually looking in middle ground. I recommend that it would go up to adult for supervision.
The first time I read through Mrs. Bence’s Reconsideration forms back in September, without having read much of the material myself, I thought that she had read it. After actually reading a couple of the books myself though, with both The Bone Spindle and The Other Boy, she grossly misrepresents so much of the book or various excerpts/scenes, that I wonder if she’s really reading the material, just skimming it, or perhaps she just really does hold such pervasive malevolent views towards the LGBTQ+ community that her experience of these books is just filled with bitterness.
At first, Mrs. Bence mentions that the plot is one where the main character (Shane) has “crush after crush on other girls.” In this book, the main character only has 1 crush. How is 1 crush or a first girlfriend characterized as “crush after crush”? Then, Mrs. Bence mentions that you don’t know that Shane was born a girl until Chapter 4. That’s true but each chapter is fairly short. You find out on page 28 that Shane is a transgender boy, which out of 234 pages is relatively early on. However, I believe the book’s jacket says that the main character is transgender. Most people, including kids, read the back of a book before committing to it. Another thing, Mrs. Bence mentions that Shane “loses it” when asked to be a bridesmaid. There is a lot more going on during this scene of the book that Mrs. Bence conveniently leaves out. Shane is a 12 year old who hasn’t seen his father in months. Shane was looking forward to just hanging out with his Dad but his Dad not only introduces a new girlfriend to him out of the blue, Shane also finds out right away that they are engaged. Then, to make it worse, Dad didn’t tell his fiance that his child is transgender. That’s quite a bit going on but sure, let’s just leave all the rest of it out and go with some hateful narrative because of a preexisting loathing of trans kids and their families.
I think Mrs. Bence is also very confused about Chapter 5. Shane is telling a story of when he was taking a bath with his friend Matt when they were 3 years old. Matt calls his penis a peanut, which was confusing to Shane because it didn’t look like an actual peanut. (I thought that part was funny. lol) Mrs. Bence stated that Matt wanted to be a girl but that’s not true. Matt told Shane that Matt was a boy because he had a “peanut” but Shane insisted that he was also a boy although he didn’t have a “peanut.” Then, Mrs. Bence goes into how she feels the parents are spoiling Shane simply because they are accepting of his trans identity. To be honest, the Dad really isn’t all that accepting in the beginning of the book. It’s part of the reason why there’s friction between Shane and his dad. The Dad grows to become more accepting throughout the book though. She furthers her criticism of the parents that there are “no rules or authority in his life.” I don’t think that’s necessarily true and more speculation on the part of Mrs. Bence than anything. Mrs. Bence also discusses this book being inappropriate for 8 year olds but this book was categorized at the Columbia County Library as Middle Ground, which is where she found it. According to the guidelines, Middle Ground is supposed to be for ages 11-14. She readily admits there’s no sex in the book. Shane doesn’t even kiss his girlfriend on the cheek or hold her hand. He goes over to her house and they sit 3 feet apart on a couch and watch a movie. The main reason Mrs. Bence doesn’t like this book is because it has a transgender character. Really, the rest of the content she points to is superfluous.
Anyway, I’m actually more concerned as to why the new County Librarian is recommending this book be moved up in age to Teen. The School Library Journal recommends this book for 5th-7th grade. According to Amazon, the publisher recommends the book for ages 8-12. Middle Ground is a newly created section at the Columbia County Libraries, so this book would have been evaluated and added to Middle Ground, probably from Juvenile Fiction within the last year. Even according to the guidelines, I believe this should be a Middle Ground book.
I’ve posted a copy of the “Library Staff Review” form from the new County Librarian above. It states that this book contains Moderate Profanity, Moderate Violence, and mild sexual content/sexuality. Moderate profanity? There is no profanity. The insults thrown around are like, “freak” and “lesbo.” While I agree these terms are unkind, does it reach the level of profanity? The violence is very mild. There is a broad reference to self-harm but not described in detail and never carried out by the main character. There are instances of bullying where Shane is pushed and some kids throw gum in his hair. Most of the bullying is social ostracism though. According to the guidelines, Star Wars is the reference for the appropriate level of violence in Middle Ground. Like the one where Annakin mass murders all the little kids (padawans)? Maybe where they blow up a planet? Oh, I know, the one where Annakin’s legs are cut off next to a lava river and then they catch on fire while he screams how much he hates Obiwan? There’s nothing near that level of violence in this book. Harry Potter definitely has more and I’ve seen more violence in videos posted online of actual fights in our Columbia County School District than what is mentioned in this book.
I would like to really understand how this book is considered even “mild” under sexual content. To begin with, the form conflates sexuality with sexual content, which is going to lend towards a bias against LGBTQ books from the get-go because LGBTQ+ books are going to be flagged with sexuality as a concern whereas books with heterosexual characters won’t. Is someone’s existence considered “sexual content”? If there is “mild” sexuality, what is “moderate” or “extreme” sexuality? Define what it means to be mildly gay.
Also, the guidelines do not address drugs or alcohol, so I’m not sure why that’s even relevant. In September Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume though was also moved to Adult fiction for references to alcohol abuse. However, that’s not referenced in the guidelines, so are we just making stuff up in meetings behind the scenes? It seems that way but admittedly, that would be speculation on my part. Even if the existence of drugs is considered, the only drugs in this book are the testosterone that Shane takes as prescribed by his physician. Are we going to move every book in the library now if a character takes any medication for conditions such as ADHD, Allergy meds, heart meds, cancer meds, etc? Diabetics take shots of insulin so is that now going to be a reason to elevate the age-range of books?
Anyway, Yes - Mrs. Bence doesn’t like this book. She doesn’t like this book because it has a transgender character that learns to live his best life with the support of his friends and family. Oh the horror. However, I’m more concerned that we seem to be using such a heavy-handed approach to the guidelines to justify moving this book to Teen. How will these standards be applied to all of the books in the library or is this just for books with a transgender character?
The only standard for book placement in children's sections of the Columbia County Library appears to be if the book portrays in a positive way people the county commissioners don't like.
Rich for her to complain about the book sexualizing the children because one is transgender. What about all the sexualizing of young girls in books/stories/TV/movies where there are no trans characters? Is that sexualizing ok? Little girls in beauty pageants; made up in makeup and frilly dresses? Asking young ones if they have a boyfriend or girlfriend before they even understand what sexual attraction is or what those terms mean?