Parents are being warned about a pornographic book that, due to its illustrated cover, resembles a book intended for children and is located next to the children’s section in some stores.
Icebreaker, by English author Hannah Grace, features two illustrated characters on the front cover – a skater and a hockey player – and has become popular with school children.
Icebreaker was published in Australia by Simon and Schuster in 2023 and has become a worldwide hit, selling over a million copies.
The novel, a love story between two students set in America, seems an innocent romance at first glance.
The child-friendly cover is reminiscent of a novel by Alexandra Moody about a love affair with a skater, Rival Darling, which is aimed at younger readers.
But that’s where the similarities end.
Icebreaker contains a lot of explicit content, which is why the novel and its content have been shared extensively on TikTok.
Parents are warned that the innocent-looking book uses the word ‘f***’ more than 380 times and contains scenes depicting rough sex, The age reported.
The illustrated cover of Icebreaker (pictured) has confused parents and children into thinking the novel is age-appropriate, but the content is explicit
The cover of Icebreaker resembles a book aimed at children aged 13 to 18, Rival Darling by Alexandra Moody (pictured)
Many scenes are not suitable for children under the age of 18 and contain phrases such as ‘fuck like you hate me’.
When the female protagonist says she wants to stop having sex, the man replies, “Don’t give up, Anastasia.”
There’s also a scene where the male lead says, “One day I’m going to fuck your pretty mouth, and then you won’t be such a bossy, impatient bitch anymore.”
A mother told how she was tricked into buying the novel.
Alyshia Graham was putting together books for her stepdaughter for the MS Readathon when the 10-year-old asked her for a copy of Icebreaker, noting that other girls at her school already had it.
The stepmother thought the cover looked similar to other Young Adult (YA) novels, read the back of the book and flipped through it before purchasing it at her local Big W.
“It was near what I would call the children’s section, maybe just outside the children’s book section,” she said.
‘I didn’t think it was that special, based on the cover.’
A warning for Australian readers is placed above the barcode on the back cover (see photo)
What she didn’t see was the warning on the back of the book, in small print, stating that the book contained ’18+ content. Not suitable for younger readers’.
When Mrs. Graham got home with the book, it was her 11-year-old son who told her about a TikTok trend where people were purposely putting Icebreaker in the kids’ corner.
The mother decided to take a closer look at the book and was shocked by its “very, very explicit” content and was unprepared for its “pornographic nature.”
But it’s not just Ms Graham who was surprised by the sexual content: a primary school principal has already warned parents about the book twice this year.
A Victoria primary school teacher has issued a warning (pictured) to parents that the novel is not suitable for school-age children.
Kelly Morrow, principal of Wandong Primary School, wrote about the book’s contents in the school’s Victoria newsletters in April and May.
“It is concerning that the book is marketed as a ‘delightful romance’ novel, with a cover that appeals to ‘tweens,’ but it contains very mature material and is rated 18+,” she wrote.
‘We are concerned that many parents are unaware of the content of the text because of the way the book is marketed, and that this could unknowingly expose their children to adult content.’
Anna O’Grady, Simon and Schuster’s publicity director, said the publisher purchased the book with the original cover, but decided to put a small warning on the back of the book, above the barcode.
Ms O’Grady told The Age she could understand why parents might find the book suitable for school-age children, but pointed out that Icebreaker is not the only adult fiction novel to feature an illustration on its cover.
Daily Mail Australia contacted Simon and Schuster and Wandong Primary School for comment.