\n<\/p>\n
A bestselling black American author has condemned a Dorset school\u2019s decision to drop her critically acclaimed novel from a reading list.<\/p>\n
Angie Thomas\u2019s The Hate U Give was removed from Budmouth Academy\u2019s year 10 reading list after a complaint from a parent.<\/p>\n
The novel is about a 16-year-old black American girl who lives in a poor and predominantly black neighbourhood and attends a wealthy, mostly white school. She witnesses a fatal police shooting of an unarmed black friend.<\/p>\n
James Farquharson, a former Conservative councillor, who has two daughters at the school in Weymouth,complained about the explicit language and sexual references in the book.<\/p>\n
He told the Guardian: \u201cI didn\u2019t read the whole thing. I read about half of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the school removed the book from its year 10 reading list after the complaint, it is still accessible to older pupils.<\/p>\n
<\/span> Illustration: amazon<\/p>\n Speaking to the Guardian, Thomas said: \u201cBook bans are disheartening for a lot of reasons, but the worst part for me is what it says to young people who see themselves in these stories. I wish more adults would put the same energy they have towards banning books into creating a world where things like racism and police brutality no longer exist.<\/p>\n \u201cFor now, I\u2019ll continue to write books that are mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors, even when the mirrors reflect uncomfortable truths.\u201d<\/p>\n Belinda Ioni Rasmussen, the chief executive of Thomas\u2019s publisher, Walker Books Group, said it stood \u201cproudly\u201d with her. \u201cWe firmly reject the banning of books and are concerned to see the latest developments in Weymouth, particularly given the extreme reality of book banning in the US,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must ask ourselves: is this the beginning of something, and what comes next? As we are doing in the US, we will work tirelessly against this. Children and young people everywhere deserve access to a diverse range of literature \u2013 not only to enjoy, but also to see themselves reflected and to appreciate the experiences of others. Reading broadens perspectives, nurtures empathy and is vital to fostering a tolerant, critical-thinking culture in schools and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n The TV presenter and journalist Charlene White also criticised the decision. \u201cAllowing books to be banned because of the views of a sole parent is a slippery slope,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n In a letter to the Guardian, Nicky Marsh, an English literature professor at the University of Southampton, described the ban as \u201ccrude, dog-whistle politics\u201d, adding: \u201cWeymouth\u2019s young adults deserve more.\u201d<\/p>\n The book appeared in a Guardian list of \u201c20 books they didn\u2019t want you to read\u201d, compiled in August 2025.<\/p>\n Farquharson said: \u201cMy job as a dad is to look after my kids. My daughter expressed anxiety about having been asked to read parts of the book out. With Black Lives Matter type of stuff, how do you expose children to that without making them feel that because they are white they are going to be perceived as baddies?\u201d<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Farquharson resigned \u201cwith immediate effect\u201d from his voluntary role as chair of a local visitor attraction, Nothe Fort. In a resignation statement posted on social media he said he was unable to accept the school \u201cconducting potentially unlawful political indoctrination\u201d in relation to The Hate U Give. He also raised concerns about Stephen Kelman\u2019s Pigeon English, a GCSE text. He added that since raising these concerns, the \u201cprogressive left\u201d had conducted a \u201ccampaign of intimidation\u201d including attacking Nothe Fort, so he had decided to resign from his role there.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Budmouth Academy said: \u201cWe acknowledge that the novel raises important themes and is promoted as appropriate for readers that are aged 14+. However, after careful consideration, we have decided that there are alternative texts that raise similar themes which are better suited to our students in year 10.\u201d<\/p>\n Hundreds of former students and parents signed a Change.org petition calling for the book to be reinstated.<\/p>\n Vicky McNab, a parent of four mixed-heritage children, two of whom attend the school and two who have left, started the petition. She said: \u201cWe are overwhelmed by the response to our petition. It is deeply reassuring to know that there is recognition of the importance of exposing young people to diverse perspectives, opening their minds and empowering them to form their own independent opinions about the world in which they live.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A bestselling black American author has condemned a Dorset school\u2019s decision to drop her critically acclaimed novel from a reading list. Angie Thomas\u2019s The Hate U Give was removed from Budmouth Academy\u2019s year 10 reading list after a complaint from a parent. The novel is about a 16-year-old black American girl who lives in a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[1556,493,1980,7584,7090,2875,2475,7452,588,4110],"class_list":{"0":"post-25230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-author","9":"tag-bans","10":"tag-book","11":"tag-criticises","12":"tag-disheartening","13":"tag-dorset","14":"tag-race","15":"tag-removal","16":"tag-schools","17":"tag-secondary"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}