PARKERSBURG — A woman brought up concerns about the reading materials being read to young children at local libraries to county officials on Thursday.

Esther Lauderman appeared before the Wood County Commission to talk about an incident she had with her 3-year-old grandson at the South Parkersburg Library on Blizzard Drive.

“Let me start off by saying that one of the things that makes America exceptional is the First Amendment to the Constitution,” she said. “I think it is important not to ban books.

“That is not what I am here for, but I also believe that the books a library chooses to showcase and chooses to read to toddlers during Story Hour should reflect the values of the community which the library serves.”

She feels certain subjects should be left to the discretion of the family to when and if they introduce these topics.

This past June, she took her grandson to a story time reading event. She said the librarian chose a book, “Julian Is A Mermaid,” that introduced the idea of transgenderism to read to kids ages 0-3.

“I do not want my 3-year-old grandson indoctrinated with the author’s view of normalizing a transgender lifestyle,” she said. “This is a topic for my daughter and son-in-law to discuss with my grandson when he is an appropriate age.”

The library also showcased books normalizing same-sex relationships and other alternative lifestyles on the shelves during the month of June, Lauderman said.

“I am here to inform you of the choices of the South Parkersburg Library is making in terms of feeding our youngest children ideas,” she said. “I only request that you take this information into account when you make funding decisions regarding the libraries.”

She read some reviews of “Julian Is A Mermaid” by Jessica Love describing its content as dealing with “a gender non-conforming child” who wants to do things differently than the parental figures in their lives and the book “challenges traditional gender stereotypes” and is part of a number of LBGT books available, she read.

“This should be a parent’s decision as to when to raise these topics with their youngest children,” Lauderman said “It is not for the taxpayers’ money to be used to indoctrinate children.”

She has been taking her grandson to storytime for awhile and she has not seen any religious-themed books read or displayed that offers a counter point-of-view.

Commission President Blair Couch said the county does not regularly fund the library directly. The county collects money from the library levy and redistributes it to the library.

The library has a board of directors made up of representatives from the local cities, the school board and the county. The county appoints two representatives.

Lauderman is aware of the issues at the main branch of the library about such books geared towards younger readers who are older than the children she is talking about.

“What makes what I am talking about different is these are young-young children,” she said.

Officials said they would follow-up with her.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com