Editor,

Two weeks into this school year, my minor child brought home the book “Song of Solomon” by Toni Morrison from an English literature class at Carmel High School. I had never read it, but now I have. The book is laced with profanity, sexually explicit content and intense violence worthy of an R rating if it were a movie.

As a parent, why aren’t I receiving a notification that my 14-year-old child is checking out a book with mature content from the school library at the very least? “Song of Solomon” is part of the curriculum for two AP-level English classes at Carmel High School. The class that my child is in was not one of those two classes, so it was especially surprising that this book was brought home.

The book was hand-selected with about 40 other books by the school librarian for a class project that the students could choose from. After reading the book and voicing my concern, I was told by the English department that this book was not intended to be one of the books chosen for the class project. The teacher was surprised to know that the book was included and thankfully allowed my son to pick out a different book to read.

So, needless to say, I was pleased to read in Current in Carmel that most of the school board members are in favor of reviewing the existing book review policy and providing the tools to assist parents. I believe there needs to be some guardrails to be put in place, especially after my minor child was allowed to bring this book home for a class project without either the child or parent being warned about the mature content within the pages of this particular book.

Brooks Burtch, Carmel