"TTYL" author defends her book

AUSTIN (KXAN) - After months of battling, the controversial book "TTYL" has been taken out of middle schools in the Pflugerville and Round Rock school districts. The New York Times best selling author stopped by for an exclusive interview. Myracle wanted to respond to critics after the book was banned from Round Rock middle schools last week.

"TTYL" is still in Austin middle school libraries. "I didn't write it for middle schoolers I wrote it for high schoolers," said Myracle. "That is the truth." Myracle said she only learned of Round Rock, Texas about a month ago and was not terribly surprised to hear the book was being challenged. What did surprise her was Round Rock superintendent Dr. Chavez's decision to pull the book from middle schools. "From the very beginning I felt it wasn't appropriate for middle schoolers," said Chavez.

"TTYL" contains crude language, teen drinking and an improper student-teacher relationship, all in the form of instant messages. "It is a story about real life girls struggling with real problems," said Myracle. Myracle said she hopes the irony is not lost that the very week "TTYL" was taken from Round Rock middle schools, high school coach, Noah Byrd, was accused of having a similar sexual relationship with a student. "It does suggest yeah these things happen," said Myrcle.

Still, some of the language and content is too obscene to even air on television. "If I had know this was going to happen, I would have toned down the language a little bit, but the language itself is not a reason to take the book off the shelf," said Myracle.

Meanwhile, some parents said they do not want their kids exposed to mature content too early. "It wasn't in the hands of high school girls, it was in the hands of 11-year-olds and even some 10-year-old girls," said Karen Withers, Round Rock parent.

If even the author admits the book was not meant for middle school age children, how did "TTYL" end up in so many school middle school libraries? That is a question perhaps only the individual school districts can answer. The National Coalition Against Censorship has written a letter to the Round Rock Independent School District is response to Dr. Chavez pulling the book from middle school libraries.