Parents Speak Out Against Book Depicting Rape Assigned To 9th Graders

CHARLOTTE, NC — Some parents attended the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board meeting this week to raise concerns about a novel assigned to advanced ninth grade students in the IB program.

The novel, "The Girl Who Fell From the Sky" is described by Amazon as "searing and heart-wrenching portrait of a young biracial girl dealing with society’s ideas of race and class is the winner of the Bellwether Prize for best fiction manuscript addressing issues of social justice."

While it is considered young adult fiction, it deals with tough topics including race, rape and suicide with some graphic passages.

Summer reading lists indicate the novel was assigned as an option to tenth graders as far back as 2017 at North Mecklenburg High School.

Parents voiced concerned that it may simply not be appropriate for ninth grade.

“Here’s an excerpt from the book describing the rape of the 16-year-old main character,” parent Jonathan Thornton said in the meeting, viewable here.

"I feel his weight on me and I feel him spreading my legs apart," he read in part of the rape scene.

He went on to read an except of child molestation, as well as another involving a rape fantasy. He asked the school board meeting officials to evaluate the mandatory reading of the novel.

Another parent spoke as well, saying the required reading alarmed her. "Are you okay with my daughter being forced to read that?" Brooke Weiss asked. "Because I am not."

CMS said in a statement that the novel is part of their curriculum.

"Teachers and students across the district voted and provided feedback on the initial four titles, which resulted in the two options for schools: The Girl Who Fell from the Sky and If You Come Softly. These are options that may be selected by schools in accordance with the curriculum. The final choice was made at the school level."