As a parent of three children who have completed college and one middle schooler, I strongly urge the Virgina State Board of Education to require teachers of literature classes to communicate in writing at the outset of each semester the books scheduled to be read by pupils in those classes - from first grade through at least 10th grade, if not 11th or 12th.

i write this so that parents would have the right and opportunity to evaluate the materials and prepare themselves to interact with their sons or daughters on those selections that may especially warrant it.  In some instances, I realize this opportunity may also lead to parents withholding permission, but I think that is an acceptable option since these are their children.

Having a seventh grader who read Kite Runner this year before I had done so, I was ill-prepared to walk with him through the experience of reading through a gang sodomy attack on a school aged boy in the story. While the book was well-written, it introduced ideas I might have preferred been delayed for my son.

Thank you for considering this change to the oversight of educators in our public schools.