25 August,2011 11:35 AM IST | | ANI
Au00a0New Jersey school district has apologized to parents for a required summer reading list for middle and high school students that included books containing graphic depictions of lesbian sex and a homosexual orgy
"Some of the language is inappropriate," Fox News quoted Chuck Earling, superintendent of Monroe Township Schools in Williamstown, N.J, as saying.
u00a0"We were not trying to create controversy. We were just trying to get students to read."
The district has now pulled the books off the list, with the start of school just days away.
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"There were some words and language that seemed to be inappropriate as far as the parents and some of the kids were concerned," Earling said.
One book, "Norwegian Wood," featured a lesbian sex scene between a 31-year-old woman and a 13-year-old girl, reports the Gloucester County Times. The other book in question was "Tweak (Growing up on Methamphetamines)," which had the drug use and gay orgy.
Earling said the school district's summer reading list was prepared by a committee made up of teachers, librarians and school administrators. The board of education ultimately approved the list.
"They read the books," he said. "They didn't feel it was inappropriate based on the language that's used, common language used on the street." The superintendent said students have seen more graphic things on television or in the movies - and noted that only about a dozen people actually complained.
