Porn or Not Porn? Read ‘Prep’ With Us

There have been many interesting conversations both online and in and around this week surrounding two books on the optional summer reading list and whether those books are “pornographic.”

This issue took center stage following Monday night's board meeting at which School Director Julian Stolz moved to pull the books -- "Prep" by Curtis Sittenfeld and Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" -- from the high school's summer reading list after two parents complained about the books' content. The books come with warnings from the school about "mature" content.

The board will consider the measure at its next meeting on Sept. 24, a week before the start of Banned Books Week 2012.

“Prep,” which is on the a 9^th-grade summer reading list, has been .

Last night, staff in the Barnes & Noble in the Promenade Shops in Center Valley told Patch that “Prep” is also flying off of the stores’ shelves this week, due to the throngs of Emmaus High School constituents looking to read the .

I’m looking to read the book too, as is my colleague Mariella Savidge, Lower Macungie Patch editor. And we want you to read it along with us.

We are looking for volunteers to participate in a virtual book discussion group on “Prep,” so that we can talk about the merits of the work. As you may have guessed, we particularly want our Patch readers to

We intend to publish the opinions of this book discussion group on both the Emmaus and Lower Macungie Patch sites next week. So, if you are interested in participating in an East Penn Patch book discussion group on “Prep,” please email jennifer.marangos@patch.com or mariella.savidge@patch.com.

Why not? You apparently have the book already.

If you are interested in reading "Prep" with us, please include in the email your name, the municipality in which you live, and whether or not you have children in East Penn School District (you don't have to). We'll choose people on a first-come, first-served basis.