Police in Meridian, Idaho were called to a public park when someone reported a high school student passing out free copies of a book that was recently banned by the school board.


The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie was taken off Meridian School District's reading list after complaints that the book was anti-Christian and included graphic sexual content. It is currently under review and is still available in school libraries.

The controversy over the book inspired Junior Mountain View High school student Brady Kissel to do a giveaway at Kleiner Park in Meridian. The 10th grader told local station KBIO complaints were misguided:

Kissel says, "There's a paragraph right here where it has some sexual content. But if you look at it it's a paragraph this big in a 230 page book." That page reads 'If God hadn't wanted us to masturbate, then God wouldn't have given us thumbs."


Rediscovered Books in Boise stepped in and donated 700 copies to give out for free (thanks to donations and help from the publisher). Kissel passed out copies of the book for about an hour. That's when police showed, who informed the her they been called by someone concerned about teenagers getting the book without their parents permission.

The police then realized they were police officers and probably had a lot better things to do than help prevent teenagers see words in a book about masturbating. They told Kissel there was nothing wrong with what she was doing and left.

Kissel said she gave away 350 copies of the book in the park. She now plans to do another giveaway next week.