‘Discomfort with literature’ shows

Just when one thought New Hampshire elected officials were comporting themselves with a mixed bag of sense and non-, Rep. John Sellers has set off the alarm of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (“State representative warns about ‘demonic’ books,” Jan. 4). You remember … where they burn the books because the books are bad and they can.

Sellers’ discomfort with any literature is clearly troubling considering his elected position and potential influence through same. But the Valley News got it just right, showed respect for its readership and demonstrated that the paper does and will continue to go where we need it to go.

Lynn Schad

Cornish

State rep
seems out of touch

In a stunningly ungrammatical letter, N.H. Rep. John Sellers urges parents to get involved with their children’s education by running for open seats on local school boards (“State representative warns about ‘demonic’ books,” Jan. 4). No argument there. The rest of his letter is a mishmash of weird paranoia. I am especially disgusted by his suggestion that elementary school teachers are “indoctrinating and grooming your kid/s starting at the elementary grades.” Presumably, this is through what he identifies as “pornographic/demonic/and inappropriate reading material.” Most elementary school teachers are older women who are more interested in getting their students groomed for their school pictures, not preparing them to be sex slaves. Is he worried about kids reading books? Today’s students have full access to that content without cracking a book. My grandson told his mother that during recess, some boys were passing around a phone showing a video of a man having sex with an alligator. (Apparently, this was interesting because of the alligator: men having sex with humans was “so last year.” These were 11-year-old children.) The excellent news is that he told his mother. I wonder if the Honorable Rep. Sellers has set foot in an elementary school library since graduating from sixth grade? Has he bothered to converse with a school librarian or a teacher in his district about what is being taught by the highly educated staff? Where does he get this bizarre information? If he wants children to learn to reason, he should start by being reasoned, not by repeating wild-eyed conspiracy nonsense.

Deborah Kennedy

Hanover

Which books are ‘demonic?’

I would like to ask John Sellers, State Representative, Grafton District 18, a question about his recent letter (“State representative warns about ‘demonic’ books,” Jan. 4) He states that “by now many if not all of you know there are books in many of our schools that are pornographic and even demonic.”

Would you please provide some specific examples of books or materials you think are “pornographic and demonic?”

Melinda Hunt

Enfield

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