US police union objects to Angie Thomas novel

A police union in the US has called for The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely to be removed from a high school’s summer reading list, according to news reports.

Local news site News 2 said the Fraternal Order of Police Tri-County Lodge #3 in South Carolina objected to both books being on the summer reading list for Wando High School's English I class because they depict police brutality.

Spokesperson John Blackmon said: "Whether it be through social media, whether it be through text message, whether it be phone calls, we've received an influx of tremendous outrage at the selections by this reading list.

"Freshmen, they're at the age where their interactions with law enforcement have been very minimal. They're not driving yet, they haven't been stopped for speeding, they don't have these type of interactions. This is putting in their minds, it's almost an indoctrination of distrust of police and we've got to put a stop to that."

Blackmon said he had received “hundreds” of messages from police and members of the community about the books.

According to the Charleston County School District’s policy, the chief academic officer will now form a committee to review the choice of books. The committee will hear from a parent who filed the complaint and the teacher who chose the books. Within 30 days they will make a recommendation to the school superintendent, who will make the final decision.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (pictured) was one of last year’s most praised YA novels after it was published in the UK by Walker Books, and it went on to win this year's Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the Amnesty CILIP Honour.

Jason Reynolds is an author and poet who is published in the UK by Faber Children’s and Knights Of.