Did you know that Newton Sen. Cindy Creem’s son-in-law is an author of a book that some people wanted to ban from schools?

Last week’s meeting of the School Committee with Newton’s state legislative delegation included a lot of talk about budgets, funding and other important issues facing both the state and Newton Public Schools.

Creem, who has served as Senate majority leader since 2018, mentioned a bill that’s currently in the Senate prohibiting state bans against books in public schools.

“Maybe it doesn’t matter here. Maybe we’re just really lucky where we live, that we don’t ban books,” she said. “But I was particularly sensitive about the book-banning bill.”

That’s because the issue hits home for Creem and her family. Her son-in-law, Robert Sharenow, wrote a novel for adolescents titled “The Berlin Boxing Club,” about a young Jewish boy named Karl who is bullied by classmates in Nazi-era Germany.

A champion boxer and trainer named Max Schmeling takes Karl under his wing and teaches him how to box. And as anti-Jewish violence escalates, Karl has to balance his boxing dreams with his need to protect his family.

“It’s a wonderful book,” Creem said. “It’s won all kinds of awards.”

But as the book’s popularity grew, Creem continued, her son-in-law found out that his book was facing calls for removal from public school libraries in Texas and Florida.

The theme of the book wasn’t what got it that unwanted attention, however. It was because the book has a minor character who is transgender.

“You know that’s not going to happen in Newton, Brookline and Wellesley, but I still fear there are other parts of the state that something like that could happen,” Creem said.

In late 2024, the Boston Globe reported that, at that time, 70 books had faced calls for bans from public school libraries in Massachusetts.