News about Ellen Hopkins

It was never meant for young children, according to the author of a book that was banned from classrooms around the United States due to its description of a sex act involving two 10-year-old boys. Despite scenes that parents were branded'pedophilic,' Lawn Boy, Jonathan Evison's 2018 book, attracted national attention in 2021 after being discovered in school libraries. Due to the contentious passages, school districts in at least 12 states have taken the book from libraries. At a church youth group meeting, the passages included excerpts from a sexual encounter between two fourth grade boys. The book was never meant to be placed in school libraries, according to Evison in The Washington Post. His words appeared in a Journal article in which schools were outlawed because, "a mother mistakenly said the book showed pedophilia." The essay referred to remarks made by a woman from Virginia who mistakenly told a school board meeting that the book depicts a sexual encounter between a man and a ten-year-old boy.