They did not respond to statements and letters sent by free speech advocacy groups. Results of Incident: Baltimore County School District caved to pressure from parents and removed 'Buck' from the curriculum at Digital Harbor High School. A televised news report from NBC affiliate WBAL misleadingly referenced “a passage on page 96 depicting a party reads: ‘Boom boom boom - the bass from Luke’s face down (expletive) up, that’s the way we like to (expletive)’” without bothering to cite the fact that Asante is actually quoting the main lyric from a famous 2 Live Crew song and not something happening at the party. Out of a 272-page book, parents complaints mostly centered around one out-of-context chapter that was set in a strip club.

The Incident: Parents complained that profanity, as well as graphically described sexual acts, made 'Buck' inappropriate for 9th graders. In 2014, Asante received a Sundance Institute Feature Film Program Grant to write and direct a movie adaptation of 'Buck'. The paperback edition of Buck made the Washington Post Bestseller List in 20. It also an Alex Award finalist, an award from the American Library Association recognizing adult books that appeal to adolescents.

'Buck' received the In The Margins Award and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Autobiography.

It tells the story of MK's youth growing up in Philadelphia from the perspective of MK as a teenager, navigating the lure of sex, drugs, and violence in the absence of a family ripped apart by incarceration and mental illness. Subject: Explicit Sexuality, Political/Economic/Social OpinionĬonfronting Bodies: Baltimore City Public School District (BCPS)ĭescription of Artwork: 'Buck' is a memoir by MK Asante, published by Random House/Spiegel & Grau.

Buck by mk asante