Parents angered by children’s book about gay princes

Michael Hartsell said he and his wife, Tonya, couldn’t believe it when Prince Bertie, the leading character in “King & King,” waves off a bevy of eligible princes before falling for Prince Lee.

The book ends with the princes marrying and sharing a kiss.

“I was flabbergasted,” Hartsell said. “My child is not old enough to understand something like that, especially when it is not in our beliefs.”

The couple said they are now considering switching their 7-year-old daughter, Olivia, from the public Freeman Elementary School to a Christian school that better reflects their beliefs.

The 32-page book by Linda De Haan and Stern Nijland was published in March 2002 by Tricycle Press, the children’s division of Ten Speed Press of Berkeley, Calif. It is listed on the publisher’s Web site as appropriate for readers age 6 and up.

“This book was reviewed by the most reputable children’s book reviewers in the country,” said publisher Nicole Geiger. “Not one of them said it was inappropriate for children or should not have been published.”

In a statement, Geiger said the book and its follow up, “King & King & Family,” feature an “unconditional love that ignores conventional boundaries, be it marriage or adoption. There are many kinds of families in this country, and the children in these families and their friends deserve to see their situations in a positive light.”

According to the American Library Association, “King & King” was the ninth-most frequently challenged book in the country last year, said Jim Kuhlman, chairman of the N.C. Library Association’s intellectual freedom commission.

He said a book’s appropriateness depends on the individual.

“Something that might be right for some fifth- or sixth-grader is not right for another,” Kuhlman said. “When we get into trouble is when we begin to proscribe: because I don’t think my child is in a position to look at it and deal with it then other children shouldn’t either.”

Barbara Hawley, the librarian at Freeman Elementary, said the book has been on the school’s shelves since early last year. She said she couldn’t comment on the book because she hadn’t seen it. She declined to say whether she knowingly selected a book on gay marriage.

A spokesman for the North Carolina Family Policy Council, a traditional values advocacy group, said the Hartsells had contacted the organization last week and asked what they should do.

Stephen Daniels said the organization believes children should be checking out books on science, math and other standard education subjects, not gay marriage.

“A book like this is obviously written to influence small children to consider homosexual marriage normal,” he said. “We certainly would object to that.”

The Hartsells said they are keeping the book until they get assurances it won’t be circulated. But Hawley said all county schools have a committee that reviews books after their appropriateness is questioned, and the Hartsells must make a written complaint and return the book for review.

“We have a lot of diversity in our schools,” said Elizabeth Miars, Freeman’s principal. “What might be inappropriate for one family, in another family is a totally acceptable thing.”

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On the Net:

Tricycle Press: http://www.tenspeed.com/catalog/tricycle/