Which banned books were discussed during RPL Teen Room discussion?

Maybe someone who lives in Rochester and has school-age children can find something out for The Rochester Voice.

We'd like to know what "banned books" were discussed at last Monday's "Banned Book Discussion" inside the Rochester Public Library's Teen Room.

Do you think that some of the books they discuss might be formerly banned literary classics like Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, or The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger?

That'd be just fine by me. I'd like to have my grandkids exposed to adult themes that might be of value to their young minds, certainly the first two that address racist themes from the past.

Or do you think that it is much more likely they would be discussing some of the more provocative and disturbing books expressly written to sexually confuse our teen and preteen children with gender dysphoria, like "Gender Queer, "All Boys Aren't Blue," "Flamer," and "This Book Is Gay."

I shall not name the latter's authors, because they are not deserving as such.

Now I have been either a high school or middle school teacher or a newspaper reporter or editor the majority of my life, but I never knew of the term "gender dysphoria" till just a couple of years ago."

It was back in September 2022 that the Rochester City Council vacated a request for an open discussion of the book Gender Queer with Rochester Public Library Director Marie Lejeune. Gender Queer is a graphic novel about gender dysphoria that includes images and language of masturbation and oral sex between teens.

The book is so graphic in its imagery that no media outlet in New England and probably across America showed the illustrations, except The Rochester Voice.

We did so because if you have Gender Queer in the young adults room of the Rochester Public Library, shouldn't its imagery and words be proper for adults? Apparently not.

Interestingly Lejeune said at the time that while it was in the young adult's room, anyone, even if they were just nine or 10, even if they were seven, the library would let them check the book out and take it home!

How lovely is that!

When The Rochester Voice took a sample poll of parents of Rochester Middle School students waiting for their children to be dismissed from school, the vote was 10-0 against such a book.

When I showed them some of the imagery, they were actually disgusted.

Recently The Rochester Voice submitted a Right To Know request with the city of Rochester for all documents pertaining to the list of banned books to be discussed on May 19.

City officials replied there was no such document pertinent to my request..

Do you think any of the youngsters ages 12-18 said they wanted to discuss Huckleberry Finn, To Catch a Mockingbird or Catcher in the Rye?