ELLERBE — The mother of a student at Mineral Springs Elementary says she was appalled by what she found in a book brought home by her son — and is warning parents to pay attention to what their children are consuming.
Nikki Fletcher says her 6-year-old son, a first-grader, picked out the manga “Unico: Awakening” from the Scholastic Book Fair at his school on Tuesday because he loves to draw and “thought it would have cool illustrations.”
“I told him to get what he wanted because I never expected gun violence to be a part of a book fair for children of any age, and offered IN SCHOOLS at that!” she said in a Facebook post that she also shared in the group What’s Up Richmond County. “I mean, why would I?”
After her son got home, she says he came to her with questions.
When Fletcher looked through the book, she found depictions of gun violence and animal abuse.
Fletcher took photos of the cover of the book and one page spread, with the panels showing a man kicking a cat and firing a handgun at the feline character.
Scholastic provides a 26-page preview on its website, but doesn’t show anything that graphic. The recommended readership for the book is listed as ages 8-12 or grades 3-7.
“To say I was shocked is an understatement when Wes showed me what was in that book,” Fletcher said. “Personally, I feel like the Scholastic book company should be held accountable for making this available to our children.”
Fletcher added that she is not anti-gun, but doesn’t believe a book like that should be made available to younger children.
“That threat is a very real and sensitive issue in this country no matter the age or where we live,” Fletcher said. “Also, I’m sure if my child had mentioned the things he saw in this book he got at school instead of telling me, not only would he be in trouble, but it would probably go on his record.”
In the wake of school shootings like those at Columbine High School in 1999 and Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, schools have become increasingly zero-tolerance when it comes to guns.
In 2018, a seventh-grader in Sampson County was reportedly suspended for drawing a stick figure with a rifle. Earlier this year, another student was reportedly kicked out of school for drawing a gun at a school in Port Huron, Michigan.
Students have also been punished for pointing their fingers, sticks or pencils like guns, and one was in trouble for chewing his breakfast pastry like a gun. In 2012, a 3-year-old deaf student was reportedly forbidden from signing his own name because it resembled shooting a gun.
Fletcher said she doesn’t blame the school or the staff.
“They seemed to be as surprised as I was, and removed the books immediately,” Fletcher said.
Copies have also been removed from across the district.
“We are aware of the issue and take all parent concerns seriously,” Cameron Whitley, executive director of communications for Richmond County Schools, told the RO in an email Thursday. “The book has been removed from the current Scholastic Book Fairs to allow us time to review the concern and reach out to (S)cholastic.”
The RO contacted Scholastic for a statement late Wednesday, but had not received a response by 6 p.m. Thursday.
