NEW YORK (AP) — Sixth graders at a New York City school no longer have to read a book on their summer reading list after parents objected to its sexual content.

Public School/Middle School 114 in Rockaway Park pulled “The Absolutely True Diary of Part-Time Indian” from the list.

The Daily News (http://nydn.us/169tSvs) says parents objected to passages about masturbation as inappropriate for 11 year olds.

A Department of Education spokesman said selected texts are school-based decisions.

Sherman Alexie’s book is about a Native American who transfers into an all-white high school. It won the 2007 National Book Foundation award for Young People’s Literature.

The author defended the book after it was pulled from an Oregon classroom in 2008. He said every child deals with the kind of issues presented in the book.