**************************************** WARNING ************************************
THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MATERIAL
NOT FOR MINORS.
Kite runner is an assigned book for 11th graders to read at GHAPS. According to Rated Books, Kite Runner gets a 4/5 rating (i.e., NOT FOR MINORS). Per their rating system, “This book contains explicit sexual activities including sexual assault and battery; prostitution involving minors and adults; explicit violence; and mild profanity.” At least one GHAPS parent questioned the school regarding this reading assignment.
Kite Runner is a historical fiction book set in wartime Afghanistan. Amir grows up in Afghanistan but flees with his family to America after Russians invade. After fleeing to America, Amir receives a phone call from a dying man that moves him to return to Afghanistan. Much has changed. The Taliban is in charge. He discovers his former servant was actually his half-brother and was killed during the war. He also learns he has a nephew that was in an orphanage. Upon journeying to the orphanage to rescue his nephew, he finds out the orphanage is selling children to the Taliban so the orphanage can feed the remaining children. Sometimes the children come back, and sometimes they do not. His nephew was sold and he goes on an expedition to retrieve him where he has encounters with Taliban soldiers.
Here is a quote from page 7, “He handed the cigarette to the guy next to him, made a circle with the thumb and index finger of one hand. Poked the middle finger of his other hand through the circle. Poked it in and out. In and out. “I knew your mother, did you know that? I knew her real good. I took her from behind by that creek over there.” The soldiers laughed. One of them made a squealing sound. I told Hassan to keep walking. “What a tight little sugary cunt she had!” the soldier was saying, shaking hands with the others, grinning.”
Here's another quote which describes the “liberating” and breathtaking feeling of shooting up a room full of people “knowing you’re doing God’s work.”
“Door to door we went, calling for the men and the boys. We’d shoot them right there in front of their families. Let them see. Let them remember who they were, where they belonged.” He was almost panting now. “Sometimes, we broke down their doors and went inside their homes. And…I’d …I’d… sweep the barrel of my machine gun around the room and fire and fire until the smoke blinded me.” He leaned toward me, like a man about to share a great secret. “You don’t know the meaning of the word ‘liberating’ until you’ve done that, stood in a roomful of targets, let the bullets fly, free of guilt and remorse, knowing you are virtuous, good, and decent. Knowing you’re doing God’s work. It’s breathtaking.”
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We left the bodies in the streets, and if their families tried to sneak out to drag them back into their homes, we’d shoot them too. We left them in the streets for days. We left them for the dogs. Dog meat for dogs.”
Here are two reviews addressing the age appropriateness of Kite Runner.
According to school policy, parents can request alternative assignments for their children when they have objections to course materials. Unfortunately, the majority of parents do not have the time to pre-read every assignment and book given to their children. In addition, because schools commonly assign coursework on Chromebooks, it is even more difficult for parents to know what their children are reading.
Grand Haven is not the only local school district to assign this book. A parent from Hudsonville Schools discusses Kite runner and her experience dealing with the school during the first 30 minutes of this Edubabble Emporium podcast. In Grand Haven, at least one parent complained about the inappropriateness of Kite Runner. She was alerted that her child was reading sexually explicit content after he showed her the male-on-male rape scene in chapter 7.
Here is her email to the teacher, and principal.
Here is the teacher’s response.
The teacher’s email indicates students have had issues with this book. That should be reason enough to select a more age-appropriate book. Students have informed parents that class discussions revolved around the rape scene. This is a class full of 16-year-olds. The book contains foul language, violence, and explicit content. Although the children are being told not to model those behaviors, wouldn’t it be a better starting point to provide students with literature containing role models for them to emulate? There is so much great literature out there. Why dwell on the dark and negative side of life? In an age in which a grade school kid gets suspended for chewing his pop tart into the shape of a gun, why are high schoolers reading about mass shootings?
What this book actually does is plant ideas into the minds of impressionable children and desensitizes them to violence. I recommend all parents request an alternative assignment if their children are given this book. Even if they may be able to “handle it”, why expose them to these ideas? If parents and guardians don't speak up, Kite Runner and other violent and sexually explicit books will just continue to be placed into the hands of the kids.