An 11-year-old boy from Maine is calling out his middle school after borrowing a book from the library — unaware that what he was about to read was a short novel about two teen boys sexually experimenting on one another. Knox Zajac appeared at the school board meeting last month as he denounced school officials for not overlooking the type of material its students are borrowing from the library as he read out several paragraphs from the book, titled “Nick and Charlie.”
Written by Alice Oseman, the book is centered around two teenagers who end up stealing wine from their parents before things start to turn sexual between the pair. “My back over my hips. I asked if he should take his clothes off,” the boy read at the meeting. “He was saying yes before I finished my sentence.
Wow. An 11-year-old boy named Knox Zajac from Maine confronted his school board by reading them pornographic material found in his middle school.
pic.twitter.com/fzV5Q6zaRL— 1776 Project PAC (@1776ProjectPac) February 28, 2023
He’s pulling off my T-Shirt, laughing when I can’t undo his shirt buttons. He’s undoing my belt. I’m reaching into his bedside drawer for a condom. What’s even more disturbing is that when Zajac showed the book to his dad, the librarian allegedly asked whether he wanted more before proceeding to ask if a graphic novel version would also be of interest to the boy.
“This is the smut that he is finding, alright? I don’t care whether it’s gay, straight, bisexual, or whatever the terms are for all of this stuff – it doesn’t need to be at our school,” his father, Adam, chimed in, clearly annoyed and angered that his son was being exposed to such an explicit book when he’s just 11. But “Nick and Charlie” wasn’t the only book that Adam wanted to call in for questioning during his discussion with the school board.
The dad had also complained about another book at the Windham middle school, titled ‘Gender Queer,’ which talks about things such as the “confusion of adolescent crushes” and how to come out to family members. Needless to say, Adam was not happy with the tone of the book and wanted to raise this as another example of what kids his age shouldn’t be allowed to read at school.
Sixth-grader Knox Zajac tells @WGME why he read from the controversial book “Nick and Charlie” during a recent school board meeting in Maine. pic.twitter.com/JlGPgBOedy
— Crisis in the Classroom (@CITClassroom) March 1, 2023
“We do not need to be having literature that is showing boys how to s–k d–k … you may think the schools know what’s best for our children. You know who knows best for our children? The parents,” Adam said.