CARY, N.C. – North Carolina parents are raising issues with two books assigned to fourth-graders that some believe glorify violence and push liberal themes that are not appropriate for youngsters.

Parents complained though a Stop Common Core NC website run by the Civitas Institute about two books assigned to about 30 fourth-graders in Wake County’s Highcroft Drive Elementary School: “One Crazy Summer,” and “Esperanza Rising,” The Cary News reports.

“One Crazy Summer” is centered on a summer camp for kids run by the Black Panthers set in California in 1968, while “Esperanza Rising” focuses on a family Mexican immigrants that move to California for work, according to the news site.

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Highcroft principal Tanner Gamble said the students were given the books as part of an “enrichment activity,” and parents were informed of the books used ahead of time, though neither of the books is listed in the district’s curriculum. “Esperanza Rising” is among 125 alternate books approved for teachers to read out loud, district spokeswoman Lisa Luten said.

But Civitas senior policy analyst Bob Luebke believes the material glorifies violence and “push subversive themes on impressionable children,” according to the News.

“These are difficult contentious topics even when age appropriate,” Luebke said. “Nine years old is not appropriate for topics like this.”

Caleb Bonham, editor of the conservative news site Campus Reform, appeared on Fox News to discuss the books, which he believes send the wrong message to students.

“Kids in the fourth grade need to be taught things about creativity or that drive that love for reading,” Bonham told Fox and Friends Weekend. “And the way to do that are more encouraging texts, not texts that are discussing police brutality and the evil racism that is America.”

He said “Esperanza Rising” focuses heavily on immigration, deportation and labor unions.

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“It remains consistent with the theme that these fourth graders are picking up,” he told Fox. “And that is that the police are good for one of two things. They’re either going to shoot you … or they’re going to deport you, whether you’re legal or not.”

Bonham said the books are part of a bigger trend of teachers pushing their political beliefs on students.

“Educators are really capitalizing on opportunities to use students to advance political narratives,” he said. “In California, they are trying to teach consensual sex education courses to K-12. So kindergartners would be subjected to consensual sex-ed classes.”

Wake County school officials, meanwhile, are defending the books as award-winning reading materials used by other schools around the country, the News reports.

“I think ultimately this takes some very difficult topics and allows kids to see a part of history that they normally would not see,” said Rusty Taylor, a teacher who coordinates instructional technology and library media services in the district.

“One of the messages that we want kids to have is that they have to learn how to make decisions for themselves,” he told the News.