HIT: recommending great books

[Chris Finer <cfiner@NEWFOUND.K12.NH.US>]

Cindy wrote:

>Hi: How do experienced high school media specialists handle books that you
have purchased based on great reviews and placement on SLJ best books list,
but have sections that may be offensive or someone (teacher) is afraid a
parent is going to be offended?

>What are the possible options that are reasonable and workable? How can I
gain the confidence supporting books that are great but have something that
may be controversial, for example: sex, drugs, homosexual relationships.

>The current book in question: Perks of Being a Wallflower. I haven't read
it myself yet.


Hi, Cindy.
In my experience, you can't beat having a good selection policy in place. My policy
contains
the statement that "a book should be selected for its strengths and not rejected 
for its
weakenesses." Wow. What a affirmative statement! If you do not have one, write it 
before
you are asked to, and then have your administration and school board endorse it.

I also make use of Follett's _TitleWave_ web site, and recommend it highly. Not 
only can
you use it to order books, but it offers links to full-text reviews as well.

A library motto I considered: We have something to offend everybody. (Just 
kidding.) But I

feel that truly great literature has to make me feel a bit uncomfortable somehow.

As for your gaining confidence in making recommendations, the best advice I can 
offer is
to
get used to never having enough confidence. :)  But here is an idea:  when I check 
out a
book that is liable to make one of my (9-12) patrons uncomfortable, I tell them so, 
up
front.
"Sue, this story's main character discovers that she is sexually attracted to her
boyfriend's
sister. Even though I think it's a great story, do you think you might ha ve a 
problem
with
that?"  Most kids I've found will give you a straight answer (sorry -- no pun 
intended).
It's led
to some wonderful discussions and great follow-up reading as well.

As for violence, I try to remember that we cannot examine the human condition or 
tell a
compelling story without characters that are set at odds with each other. My first 
time on

stage I played a Nazi, swastika armband and all. Sounds terrible. It was _The Sound 
of
Music_. My family was horrified to se me in costume, but completely enthralled and
uplifted
(of course) by the play. Just as I am not a Nazi in real life, neither do I condone 
the
violence
(or  ignorance, or hatred, or...) in the books I recommend.

I've gone on and on -- sorry. Hope I've helped you feel more confident. Good luck.

Chris Finer
Newfound Regional High School
Bristol, NH USA

"The school nurtures both teamwork and thorny individualism, at once the readiness 
to
serve and the readiness to resist, for nobody knows ahead of time which the Good 
Citizen
may have to do." -- Paul
Gagnon

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