The recent controversy at Efland-Cheeks Elementary over King & King, a book featuring two men who marry, is the launching point for a community conversation at the Chapel Hill Public Library.

Library Director Susan Brown says the new “Between the Lines” series is meant to spark discussion on current events.

Third-grade teacher Omar Currie, who resigned after a handful of parents at Efland-Cheeks protested his choice of classroom reading material, will kick the series off Wednesday evening.

“He’s going to open the forum by reading the book,” says Brown. “He’s going to do what he did that started this whole kerfuffle.”

king and king

Currie says he read the book in late April to address a bullying problem in his class; the fairy tale depicts two princes falling in love and getting married.

Two appeals were filed over the use of the book in the class and, following school board policy, the school-based Media Review Committee reviewed the book challenge. After a contentious public hearing, the board issued a ruling in favor of using the book. The appeals were later dropped.

Brown says demand for King & King skyrocketed during the controversy.

“So many people were asking about this book,” Brown recalls. “When this was in the news, the holds [on the book] went from zero to 95. Any time people are talking about a book, we’re interested.”

That interest prompted Brown and others to organize a panel discussion on how to teach diversity to school-aged children.

In addition to Currie, the panel will include Kathleen Gallagher, an education researcher at UNC’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute and Brian Sturm, Vice Chair of the Library’s board and an expert on childhood literature from UNC’s School of Information and Library Science.

The discussion will be moderated by Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt. Questions and comments from the public are welcome.

The forum starts at 6:30 at the library in Meeting Room B. You can learn more here.