There is such a thing as common sense and common curtesy!   Just because a story is created or has been someone's experience, does not make it a story that everyone will enjoy or even benefit from.  There are rights and wrongs in life.  Just because you can does not mean you should.   I feel that teachers not wanting to tell parents of such required readings know that it will not be well received, and they are right.   There are wonderful books to read and spend time discussing.  I can't even fathom, nor do I want to, what types of discussions would be warranted by such a book.  It's terrible and terrible to think these are the books promoted in an IB class!  These are teenagers still growing up and have enough on their plate with that.