Editors note: This story has been updated with comments from Utah Parents United and new developments.
A parental rights group apparently discovered Wednesday a popular children’s book apparently changed a character’s pronoun.
Parents reported to Utah Parents United about how “Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea,” by Ben Clanton, had changed the pronoun of its main character, according to the group’s Facebook page. (RELATED: Children’s Summer Reading List Promotes Gender, ‘Pronoun Book’ For Infants)
“Gender Ideology delivered right to your doorstep. Thanks, but no thanks,” the parental rights group’s Facebook post read, referring to a partnership between the Utah School Board of Education (USBE) and Kids Read Now, a non-profit organization that delivers books to young students.
“Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea” is listed on Kids Read Now’s website as one of the books the organization sends to the homes of children.
The first page of the book apparently originally read, “One day when Narwhal was out for a swim, he found himself in new waters,” according to a Youtube video published in 2020. Utah Parents United found “himself” had apparently been changed to “themself.”
Utah Parents United addressed parents’ concerns on whether the “themself” was a typographical error.
“It is a classic bait and switch,” Utah Parents United Public Relations Director, Corinne Johnson said in another Facebook video. “And this is not a typo. This is the new edition, and the publisher made a decision that they were going to introduce gender ideology to K through 3 students.”
USBE reportedly released a statement, per Utah Parents United, announcing that Kids Read Now has reportedly agreed to stop the books’ distribution in the state and have it “replaced with an alternate title.”
The USBE has issued a statement on the Kids Read Now program that exposed hundreds of children to a gender pronoun without parental knowledge or consent.
We appreciate their swift action. The ed. system has no place to introduce any ideology to children, especially at home. pic.twitter.com/qXo3Fmws9Q— UtahParentsUnited (@UTParentsUnited) July 14, 2023
“We appreciate the USBE ‘s swift action to ensure that Kids Read Now will recall the book,” a Utah Parents United spokesperson told the Daily Caller in a statement. “The education system has no place and no right to introduce any ideology to children, especially in their homes.”
Utah Parents United believes the issue is “not isolated to this one book” and said there are many books preaching “gender ideology and gender transition to our most vulnerable and innocent students in our schools.”
“The parental filter is needed now more than ever because of the subversive agenda to push gender ideology and gender transition on our youngest, most vulnerable students,” the spokesperson said.
“It is the God-given and Constitutionally-protected right of parents to decide when and how they expose their children to sexuality and gender ideology,” the statement read.
The Daily Caller has also reached out to Kids Read Now and the book’s publisher, Tundra Books, but they have yet to respond for comment.