Gulf High School IB student, parents object to book

NEW PORT RICHEY — Marí Mercado ranks in the top 10 of her International Baccalaureate class at Gulf High School.

The 16-year-old loves to read, hates to make B's and works hard on all her assignments.

So when it came time to read two complex novels and write an essay on their magical realism over the summer, Marí didn't complain. She didn't even blink at the notion of tackling the 611 pages of Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, translated from the original Japanese.

Then she got to the passage on Page 11 that began, "She said, 'I'm in bed. I just got out of the shower, and I'm not wearing a thing.' Oh, great. Telephone sex." Marí thought the text was getting iffy.

Less than half a page later, the writing had become so sexually graphic that she gave the book to her mom, Mindy, with an "Eww, gross."

On the first day of classes, instead of handing English teacher Jan Ledman her 1,500-word paper, Marí turned in a note from her father, Rafael. It said the family agreed that Murakami's book — described in part by Publisher's Weekly as a detective story that moves to "explicit sexual fantasy" — was pornographic and that if the assignment had to be based on that novel, the assignment would not be forthcoming.

"If I was just sitting in their school parking lot and reading it to 14- to 16-year-old children, I'm sure the Pasco County Sheriff's Office would want to have a word with me," Rafael Mercado said of the passage he read.

The decision could cost his daughter dearly.

Deborah Lepley, Gulf High's IB administrator, said the school had to tell the International Baccalaureate Organization years ago which novels the students would write essays about. If students do not write on the chosen texts, she said, they will get a zero, which could affect their chances to successfully complete an IB diploma.

Alicia Durbano, a diploma program manager for the International Baccalaureate program, said once a school selects books for the essay, those are the ones the students must use. But she stressed that the list of choices included more than 500 titles, and that it was up to the school to pick appropriately.

Other IB schools around the world have a variety of religions, cultures and backgrounds, Durbano noted. "They make selections of books that really comply with their values and ideals. It is not compulsory to choose those types of books. That is why the list is so large."

One option for the Mercados, Ledman said, is for the parents to read the book and black out all the offensive words. That's what another family did when it objected to the book two years ago, she said.

But the Mercados have declined that suggestion, saying they have no intention of subjecting themselves to more graphic sex descriptions. Besides, Marí observed, when the class discusses the book, the details are certain to come out, anyway.

"I hear from other students it's a big part of the book," she said. "When they go over it in class, are they going to have to censor class for me?"

Ledman said the book is not about sex, but rather a "hero's journey" in navigating the cultural mindset of Japanese citizens in post-World War II society. She tells students that different cultures have different views of human sexuality, and they might see that in the book.

But "as I teach the novel, I don't focus on those passages. I certainly don't read them to the students," Ledman said. "Out of context, certainly they take on a lot more weight and have an effect of being sheerly inappropriate for a teenager, if that were all it was. But these little scenes are within the context of a 600-page novel."

The Mercados don't see it that way.

They were disgusted by the language, regardless of context, and disturbed that their daughter was required to read it.

"We should have been warned," said Mindy Mercado. "There should have been an alternative reading available from the get-go. … My daughter is not afraid to work. She just won't do this, and we're not going to let her."

The family tried to set up meetings with school officials, not to get the book banned but only to find a workable solution for Marí. But both sides have had conflicts in finding a workable date.

Meanwhile, Marí faces an exam on the book this week, and her paper remains undone.

"We want to keep the student in this program," principal Steve Knobl said. "Over one novel, we don't want to deter her from the diploma."

Marí, a leader in the school's Christian club who's received recruitment letters from Yale and MIT, said she's willing to give up on IB if it comes down to her being required to read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

"It's not fair that I have to read something that I'm totally against," she said. "If I have to drop out of IB, that's something I have to do. I'm not going to read the book."

Marí acknowledged that some people might consider her closed-minded. But that's not her problem.

She wants to be able to live with herself.

"I read a lot. I'm an avid reader and I have an active imagination," she said. And when it comes to the passages she saw in her school assignment, "I'd rather not try to imagine it."

Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at solochek@sptimes.com or (813) 909-4614. For more education news, visit the Gradebook at blogs.tampabay.com/schools.