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Medford parent wants book banned

By ED MOORHOUSE
Burlington County Times

MEDFORD ï¿½ A township resident has turned up the heat on the Medford Township Board of Education because he wants a book, ï¿½the burn journals,ï¿½ banned from the school district.

The book written by Brent Runyon describes the author's experience as a suicidal 14-year-old who set himself on fire. The book was first published in 2004 and is categorized as juvenile nonfiction, intended for readers age 14 and older.

But ï¿½the burn journalsï¿½ raised a red flag for John Biesz when his 13-year-old daughter brought it home from school with a permission slip.

Biesz said his daughter, a student at Medford Memorial Middle School on Mill Street, took the book home from an eighth-grade teacher's personal library.

Students are not permitted to read the book unless the permission slip is signed by a parent, school officials said.

ï¿½I thought it was odd that a school library book needed a permission slip, so I opened it and read it. I was appalled,ï¿½ Biesz said.

Biesz said he was shocked to find that profanity is used in the book 166 times, including 77 uses of the ï¿½f-wordï¿½ and sexual references to male and female genitalia.

ï¿½(The author) tries to start up his own cult religion and does things no parent would want their 13-year-old child to do,ï¿½ Biesz said.

Biesz brought the book to the attention of the school board last month and requested that it be removed from the school.

Superintendent Joseph Del Rossi said last week that an eight-person committee of parents, teachers, school board members and administrators was formed to review the book.

ï¿½(Biesz) did make a presentation to the school board and it was something that we did not take lightly, so a committee was formed to review the material,ï¿½ Del Rossi said.

Del Rossi said committee members read the book in its entirety and made a recommendation to Del Rossi on whether the book should remain part of the teacher's library.

Del Rossi said he will officially make a recommendation to the Board of Education at the agenda meeting scheduled for Nov. 12 or the action meeting scheduled for Nov. 26.

Del Rossi said both copies of the book were removed from circulation pending the board's decision. He said the committee's decision would not be made public prior to either meeting.

Biesz compiled a list of excerpts from the book that he deemed offensive, including one instance where the author contemplates murder and blowing up a public transportation station.

Biesz also cites drug and pornographic references.

ï¿½Do you think its OK to distribute this kind of material to our children? Especially in the world we live in today? This is offensive,ï¿½ Biesz said. ï¿½This stuff should never make it into our schools. My daughter doesn't need to be exposed to this kind of material.

ï¿½Someone has to be held accountable for this, and who would be held accountable if a child repeated some of the actions in the book?ï¿½

The book, however, has received critical acclaim and the author won the International Reading Association Children's Book Award for Older Readers in 2005.

In many critical reviews, it is considered a book that young people should read.

Booklist noted in a starred review that ï¿½Runyon has, perhaps, written the defining book of a new genre, one that gazes...unflinchingly at boys on the emotional edge.ï¿½ The Denver Post called it ï¿½a must-read for teenagers struggling with self-doubt.ï¿½ And, the Web site, 21stcenturylit.com, described the book as ï¿½a truly remarkable book about teenage despair and recovery.ï¿½

Del Rossi, who said he also read the entire book, said he has received at least one call from a parent who feels the book should remain available to the district's children.

The hardcover edition of the book includes this description of the contents: ï¿½(Runyon) shares his thoughts and hopes and fears with such unflinching honesty that we understand ï¿½ with a terrible clarity ï¿½ what it means to want to kill yourself and how it feels to struggle back toward normality.ï¿½

In the book, the author describes how he doused his bathrobe with gasoline, put it on and lit a match. He suffered third-degree burns on more than 85 percent of his body.

Biesz said there was no warning on the book regarding the mature content.

ï¿½There should be a warning on the book that says it's a piece of garbage,ï¿½ he said.

E-mail: emoorhouse@phillyBurbs.com

Comments To This Article:
Overall Rating For This Article: ••••••••••

phillyBurbs Reader - Sad.
(11/04/2007 , Ratings: ••••• )
This blows my mind. It sounds like the parent in this situation is desperately trying to protect his child from being "exposed" to a very real, undeniable problem among young teenagers. As if reading one book is going to completely strip away 14 years of careful love and guidance that you have given to your child. As if a four-letter word on the page of a book is going to turn your formerly sweet, polite child into a foul-mouthed, swearing sailor.
Unfortunately, this poor man is eventually going to have to come to terms with the fact that if his daughter was actually NOT aware that problems like those described in the book affect her age group (and the idea that a 14 year old teenager has never heard of, or has not been "exposed" to depression and suicide is outrageous, statistically at least one of her friends is going through something of that nature right now.)
A book is probably the safest, least harmful way a teenager could learn about these issues. Your teenager WILL come across these issues in her life. As parents we cannot protect our children from everything.
I have read this book and it is not a happy story, but in no way does it glorify or promote depression and suicide, I believe the book's intention is to shed light on these issues, and by having it in a classroom I believe the school is providing a safe, healthy environment for the kids to discuss what they have read, and that the school has provided further "safety measures" by requiring a permission slip for the book. I think a permission slip is more than enough "warning" about this book. There is no attempt to conceal it's subject matter, and the fact that a parent could be unaware of it's contents after signing a permission slip makes me wonder how concerned the parent really was about what the child is reading. So may things in life remain dark and scary because no light is ever shed on it. Hopefully this book will help at least one child shed light on something that is dark and scary.
I believe removing the book from the school is taking away one of the only safe, healthy, and positive ways a teenager can learn about these subjects.
I have four children, three of whom have already graduated from high school and made it through the school system. Not one of my children made it to their graduation year without losing a classmate. This means that at some point in the future, it is highly likely that during his/her high school career you will, just as I did, have to drive your child to the funeral of a classmate.
If we talk to our children about these things now, later on in high school and beyond when she does come across these things, it would be my hope that my youngest daughter could avoid the loss of a friend or be on the lookout for the 'red flags' of suicide as a direct result of reading a book like this. I would rather her not be as bewildered as my older children, who are in their twenties, and I would rather her ask these questions hypothetically, about a book; than have the discussion in a car on the way to bury a friend.
I think the book NEEDS to stay, and parents who do not want their child "exposed" to the subject matter can continue to decline permission.
phillyBurbs Reader - Greatgram
(11/04/2007 , Ratings: ••••• )
Children in middle school should be learning more positive ways to deal with life's problems. We are desentisizing our children. Let's teach them to confide in their parents and teachers when they are troubled. Of course, we can teach them to pray for help from God. (I know, it is not allowed in school.) Don't feed garbage to our kids. This is not good reading.
phillyBurbs Reader - I can't readt half the books I'd like to . I don;t have time. There asre so many good books, both classic and modern. Why does a young person have to be subjected to one teachers l
(11/04/2007 )
phillyBurbs Reader - What's the matter with assigning classics to read?
(11/04/2007 )
I can't read half the books I'd like to ... I don't have the time. There are so many good books out there, both classic and modern. Why does a young person have to be subjected to one teacher's subjective choice of a controversial topic when there are so many great books available?
The purpose of reading, in middle school, should not be to understand life ... there's plen-ty of time for that! (I'm 60 and STILL working on it!) It should be to read well written stories, like those from Faulkner, Welty, Austen, etc., and experience good writing, while she's enjoying a good story.
And what's the matter with Dickens? ... supposedly the best prose writer in history! Who's asking kids to read that 'stuff' these days?
I asked my son last Summer to read "Siddhartha." Guess what one of his senior year reading assignments is? And I'm not clairvoyant!
I recently heard of one college that requires only that one read the "Great Books" in order to graduate!
Stand your ground, parent!
phillyBurbs Reader - Unfortunate
(11/05/2007 , Ratings: ••••• )
How unfortunate that this parent advocates censorship of this book for all children! As his child's parent, he certainly has the right and responsibility to take an active part in helping his child select readings that meet his approval; he does NOT, however, have the right to make that choice for other parents and other children. I understand that the reading of The Burn Journals was not mandatory, but elective. So, didn't the requirement of parental permission give this parent the desired opportunity to monitor his child's reading material? Apparently, the system works. I do not understand the need for all the controversy. Some children are more mature than others and are emotionally better equipped to deal with controversial topics and popular, although regrettable, venacular. Let THEIR parents be the judge. Besides, the introduction of difficult topics through literature can be a great teaching and discussion tool for parents who choose to be actively involved in their child's education.
phillyBurbs Reader - Familiar
(11/05/2007 )
Banning books...HUMMM...Sounds like pre war Nazi Germany to me. How'd that work out ???
phillyBurbs Reader - Why does this man feel the need to parent every other child in Medford?
(11/06/2007 )
The system worked perfectly, IMO. It came home with a permission slip -- if he doesn't want his child to read it, say no. Let other parents make the same decision.
No one is forcing any child to read this. A child picked it out and asked to read it, and a parent said no.
phillyBurbs Reader - Hmm.
(11/15/2007 )
The school devised a smart solution for dealing with a book that's both enlightening and controversial -- allow students to read the book electively, with a parent's permission.
Of course, that means Biesz has to be the "bad guy" instead of letting the school do the dirty work by banning the book. I wonder if that's the root of the problem here.
phillyBurbs Reader - mike
(12/06/2007 , Ratings: ••••• )
I'm 19. I read this back in ninth grade. It spoke to me. You know? He's fricken adult reading a teen book. Maybe if he had read back in his day he could of possibly related. You know this book helped me out in the long run. After seeing the how attempt of suicide, does to a family. It really helped me out in my teen years.