The West Des Moines Public Library is continuing to promote “banned books.” The library’s next YA Not Club Read group will be going over “All Boys Aren’t Blue.”
The club is for “grown-ups who like to read young adult books.”
“Whether you’re a teacher looking to help your students, a parent looking to discuss books with your teen readers, or just an adult that likes to read Young Adult books, you’re welcome to join us,” the library said about the group, which meets from 6:30-8 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month.
This week the group played a “rousing game of banned books bingo.”
You can register to attend the meeting here.
“All Boys Aren’t Blue” is the book that Gov. Kim Reynolds read an excerpt from and KCCI slapped a viewer warning on it.
Here is an excerpt from the book that The Iowa Standard shared last year:
Please be warned, this is vulgar content. It is being shared so that individuals know EXACTLY what sort of stories these books tell.
If you’re a young child, or simply under 18, you really shouldn’t read this. Even if you’re over 18, you shouldn’t read this but to educate yourself on the attacks your children will undergo by a culture that allows a book like this to be in a public school library.
“All Boys Aren’t Blue” is one of the three sexually explicit books available in a number of Iowa school libraries that has drawn the ire of parents across the state. This is an excerpt of the book, beginning on page 199:
I contemplated whether I would write about you now that you are dead. Because you were Nanny’s first grandchild to pass away. But I know that she loves you and that she loves me, and nothing that happened between us would ever make her feel differently about that.
So I decided to write about us now that you are dead…
I was about thirteen years old when it happened. It was the Christmas holiday, and everyone was home. It was a night like every other until the phone rang. There had been a fight at our grandmother’s house between our cousins Ral and Rasul. They were older teenagers and unfortunately, they always seemed to find a reason to fight. Our aunts and grandmother broke up the fight, but you decided that you didn’t want to stay over there for the evening. You asked if you could stay with us, which my mom said was fine.
You were a cool cousin, older by about four or five years…
You waited a few more minutes before asking me again, “Matt. You awake?”
This time I whispered back, “Yes.”
You then spoke a little louder and said, “Garrett. Garrett!”
G didn’t respond. It didn’t take much for Garrett to go to sleep, and when he did fall asleep, he slept like a rock. You then asked me, ‘Do you feel that?’”
“Yeah.” But I laughed and said, “Get your hand off my butt.”
You giggled. “That’s not my hand.”
“You’re lying,” I said. You then placed both hands on my hips, as we lay side by side. There was still something poking me.
You were fully erect at this point. I was nervous. “We gonna get in trouble.”
“You can’t tell anybody, okay?” you said. “You promise that you not gonna tell anyone?”
I promised. You then grabbed my hand and made me touch it. It was the first time I had ever touched a penis that wasn’t my own. I knew what was happening wasn’t supposed to happen. Cousins weren’t supposed to do these things with cousins. But my body didn’t react that way. My body on the inside was doing something, too…
By now we were both touching each other. I tried my best not to enjoy it, because you were my cousin. We were crossing a line that family should never cross. But it felt so right for a boy who always felt that he was wrong…
We sat there for about ten minutes before you finally stood up. You then had me stand up with you. At this time, you were much taller than me, probably by about a good foot. You told me to take off my pajama pants, which I did. You then took off your shorts, followed by your boxers. There you stood in front of me fully erect and said, “Taste it.” At first, I laughed and refused. But then you said, “Come on, Matt, taste it. This is what boys like us do when we like each other.” I finally listened to you.
The whole time I knew it was wrong, not because I was having sexual intercourse with a guy, but that you were my family. I only did that for about 45 seconds before you had me stop. Then you got down on your knees and told me to close my eyes. That’s when you began oral sex on me as well. It was the strangest feeling in the world. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a handbook to learn sexuality as a queer boy. My crash course was happening right in front of me, and despite the guilt I was feeling, there was also a euphoria…
After a minute or so, you stopped. You then laid me on the ground and got on top of me. You began humping me — back and forth, back and forth — never penetrating me, though…
You eventually got up off me and told me to come to the bathroom, that you wanted to show me one more thing. You turned on the light and closed the door. You began stroking yourself in front of me. I just stood there nervous because I didn’t know what to expect next. You said, “Just keep watching, Matt.” So I stood there and watched you for several minutes.
Watching you ejaculate was shocking. I remember you telling me, “It’s semen. One day when nobody is around, you should do this until you get this feeling you never felt before and bust.”
I looked at you and said, “I can’t do that, I’m not old enough yet.”
You laughed. “Matt, you are old enough. Go ahead and try it.”
