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October 2, 2023 Why the YA graphic novel “Kiss Number 8” should not be removed from my town’s middle school library

If you’re going to join a call to have a book removed from a school library, you should do your homework first. That means reading the book –  all 305 pages, not just the one and a half pages someone else photocopied and distributed in a letter of complaint addressed to the community.

The library is Lylburn Downing Middle School’s in Lexington, VA, and the book is the YA graphic novel Kiss Number 8 by Colleen AF Venable and Ellen T. Crenshaw. It’s about a teen named Mads. She’s a Christian. Readers know she’s Christian beginning with the front flap: “Mads is pretty happy with her life. She goes to church with her family and minor league baseball games with her dad.” 

The church-going is shown early and often, including near the end, when her problems are at their worst. She never stops going to church. Though she’s angry with her mother early on, by the end they have grown close, and they attend church together through every phase. Church is portrayed as an unquestioned positive constant in her life.

Mads also talks to God regularly when outside of church. Early in the novel when she worries that her father might be having an affair (he’s not), Mads asks God: “I know you forgive, so whatever Dad did, I should just forgive him, right?” And late in the novel when she’s anxious about changing schools, she continues to address God in her thoughts: “If you feel like tossing me any advice …”, adding after she bumps into someone: “Advice received: Stop inner-monologuing in crowded entryways.”

It also doesn’t take an especially observant viewer to notice that Mads is clasping her cross pendant on the front cover. She is a Christian beginning to end.

And yet the author of the letter of complaint says that “just because my beliefs and values are traditional, does not mean they don’t deserve acceptance and protection too,” adding that she hopes “if your religious beliefs were so badly offended by my school, I would come to your aid,” before calling on “all people of faith to stand against this debasement of my religious symbol and reality.”

Does Kiss Number 8 debase Christianity? Has the middle school badly offended Christians and all people of faith by making the novel available in its library?

The accusation rises from a single page, one of the one and a half attached to the letter of complaint. In that first church scene, Cat, one of Mads’ friends, says: “You can’t deny that he’s totally hot. I mean, look at those abs.” At first it looks like Cat means the altar boy, but Mads asks: “So, you’re telling me you go to church because you have the hots for Jesus?” Cat answers: “Noooo. I have the hots for THAT SCULPTURE of Jesus.” When Cat imagines that the statue has “an ass that could crack a walnut,” Mads responds: “Ewwwwwww.”

Mads’ response is key. Readers identify with her, the narrator, not with Cat, someone just now being introduced. Mads’ “Ewwwwww” cues the reader’s Ewwwwww.  We are supposed to be grossed-out.

To make that more explicit, Cat turns out to be the villain of the story, and her gross introduction is the first step in establishing that. She is also the novel’s most sexualized character, pressuring Mads not to be “prudish” and typing the other bit of dialogue included in the letter of complaint. The writer of the letter said that she does “not give teachers license to educate my child so cheaply on gender choices, sexuality, or sex.” Setting aside that the novel was not part of any teacher’s assignment, the authors of Kiss Number 9 would agree. Cat is the novel’s foil, a model of how NOT to be.

The writer of the letter of complaint doesn’t mention that Cat is also the most anti-gay character. When Mads’ bisexuality is revealed, Cat literally vomits. She later yells: “Tell me it’s not true. […] I’ve been going around like an IDIOT for months defending you, swearing to people you ‘aren’t gay, you’re just picky.’” When Mads answers, “I’ve had a crush on you for years,” Cat scowls, stomps away, and seals an EXIT door between them with a violent kick. It’s one of the only wordless pages in the novel. They never speak again.

Cat, the villain, is anti-gay, but Kiss Number 8 is not anti-gay.

Cat, the villain, is irreligious, but Kiss Number 8 is not irreligious.

How does Mads feel about church through all of this? She says: “But I still went to church every Sunday with my Mom. If she was secretly praying for me to be ‘cured.’ She never let on. Me, I just prayed for God to tell my mom that it’s okay. Weirdly enough, church was one of the only places I FELT okay.”

An offensive debasement of religion? People of faith should read and judge for themselves.

  • My town has two newspapers. I sent a version of the above letter to the monthly, and this next letter to the weekly.

The LDMS administration has begun banning books from its middle school library, starting with the novel Kiss Number 8, because a parent made the vile accusation that the school is “grooming” children.

The novel is about a teen discovering that she’s bisexual.

Parents should make decisions about their own children, not about other people’s children. If a parent doesn’t want their child accessing books, they should follow current school policy and submit a letter indicating that. But it is unacceptable for a parent to make parental decisions for other children by removing books to satisfy their personal preferences.

This novel is the first target. The complaining parent claimed the library is “flooded” with books she personally thinks would “irrevocably harm” her children, and she wants the school to “investigate” and create “an open review” so parents can force the removal of more books.

She also demanded “an open review of the process” – and I agree. It is unclear why the administration removed the book or what criteria will be used in the future. 

Defining middle-school appropriate books should be simple: Did a reputable professional publisher designate it to be appropriate for middle-school readers? Did reputable professional reviewers or award judges confirm it to be appropriate for middle-school readers? Did a reputable professional librarian select it for middle-school readers?

Any other questions are about private preferences that cannot be allowed to determine what is or is not generally available in a school library.

  • Sadly Kiss Number 8 is not the only book being targeted. So I also wrote to the school board chair last week.

Though recent focus has been on Kiss Number 8, with additional attention on It’s Perfectly Normal, and how both books appear to have been removed in violation of policy (“A review committee consisting of the principal, the library media specialist, the classroom teacher (if involved), a parent and/or student, and the complainant will convene”), I’m writing about the list of additional books that appear to be the next targets (based on the attached flyer from the Rockbridge Area Republican Committee facebook page):

That list includes This One Summer (which, like Kiss Number 8, I’ve read). According to the publisher, the graphic novel is appropriate for ages 12 and up: Macmillan.

If my understanding of the current system is correct (YA books are marked “YA,” and parents who object to YA books can prohibit their children from accessing them), then I see no need for any change – and therefore Kiss Number 8 should be returned to the library.

However, if the board decides to adopt some new policy, please make it one that is not bendable to any individual’s personal opinion/preference – including any administrator’s. Determining age-appropriateness should be a simple and verifiable process. In the case of This One Summer, there is no room for confusion: it’s for readers age 12 and up. If any parents object to its content, they should be able to prohibit their children from checking it out; they should not be able to prevent other children from checking it out by having it removed from the library. This could cut both ways: parents who prefer YA books identified for 9th grade and up to be available in the LDMS library would have to accept their being removed.

I strongly prefer the current system: marking novels “YA” should be enough.

But whatever happens next, please do not allow This One Summer, It’s Perfectly Normal, or any other book verifiably age-appropriate for middle school readers, to be targeted and removed based on individual preferences.

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