Re: [LM_NET] Venting: Thoughts on reader's advisory for elementary parents

[Lisa Hunt <lisa3moon@YAHOO.COM>]

Ronda, first of all I believe you are helping these parents because it is obvious 
that you care about their sensibilities.  I also agree with many things said here.  
If faced with this myself I think I would go the way of "I understand how specific 
you are about your child's reading, and I just don't know if my opinions match 
yours well enough.  While our collection is carefully selected according to our 
curriculum guidelines and a selection of quality literature personal tasts do 
vary.  You are welcome to check out any of our books yourself and read to determine 
if they are right for you child."
 
Lisa Hunt, NBCT 2005
School Library Media Specialist
Apple Creek Elementary
Moore, OK
lisa3moon@yahoo.com 




________________________________
From: Ronda Foust <ryfoust@COMCAST.NET>
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 2:26:06 PM
Subject: Venting: Thoughts on reader's advisory for elementary parents

I'm sharing this post from my blog b/c, as I wrote it, I wondered what some of you 
do when faced with similar parent requests. If this comes up with lots of funky 
"code", you can view the post directly at: 
http://adayinthelifeofaschoollibrarian.blogspot.com/ 


--------------------------- 
One of the things I love about being a librarian is the whole process of doing 
"reader's advisory" or helping people find just the right book. With students, 
there is nothing quite so satisfying as when one comes back to you all excited 
about a book you recommended and saying they loved it, or even better, wanting to 
know if you can suggest some more. (Hear deep sign of contentment from this 
librarian.) Sometimes readers advisory can become a huge challenge. I'm not talking 
about the challenge of the student who tells you that there just isn't anything to 
read (in your library of over 20,000 books!). The challenge I'm referring to is 
figuring out how to work with a parent who has a very limited set of parameters for 
what they want their child exposed to. Please don't get me wrong on this--I'm not 
saying it's a bad thing necessarily. What I'm venting about is how difficult it can 
be to assist some of these parents. The other day, I had a parent ask me to
 recommend something for their 4th grader. I can spout off popular titles left and 
right, I mean, geez, when you check out 200 titles a day, you start to notice the 
ones that keep cropping up. The problem comes when you recommend a popular title 
without knowing the whole story. Such as, the parent wants to know a "good book" 
but has a list of codicils as to what DOESN'T constitute a good book. It really 
makes a difference if a parent has a laundry list of things they DON'T want their 
child to read and you don't know what that list is. Need some examples? 


can't be "junk reading" can't have violence can't have "language" shouldn't discuss 
reasons behind divorce must be "good literature" can't be "too scary" can't include 
bad grammar or bad spelling must not mention drinking alcohol, smoking, or gambling 
shouldn't include references to underwear should not mention body parts should not 
include photos or images depicting the nude human form (well, that leaves out some 
Maurice Sendak and a lot of stuff about Greek history and art history) 
Start to get the idea? At some point, this kind of situation makes me want to just 
throw my hands into the air and say, "I'm sorry. You'll just have to read every 
book in the library yourself and decide which ones you want your child exposed to. 
I can't help you." Urgghhhh! Guys, this goes against every grain in my Virgo 
nature. I want to help, dang it! I want to get these kids excited about reading. I 
want to buy the Butt Wars books because I know they'll pull in a LOT of reluctant 
readers. I want to include graphic novels like Bone and Baby Mouse. I want these 
kids to visit all the worlds that books can take them to, but it makes my job 
awfully hard when my options are placed in a box that keeps getting squeezed 
smaller and smaller! What do you say to these parents? I'm not saying that I 
totally disagree with some of the concerns either. I know that, as a parent, there 
have been books I've vetoed for my child until he was older--and there are books I
 still discuss with him and we hold off on until he's walked this earth a little 
longer. 

I'm thankful that I have parents in my school who really do care what their kids 
are reading and who are involved in the lives of their children. My heart really 
goes out to those kids whose parents just don't seem to care. But finding a happy 
medium in dealing with these ends of the spectrum? Sigh. I try to remind myself 
what I tell my students. I've often told them that I am SO glad we have so many 
different people with so many different ways of looking at things, because it would 
be a dull (and scary) world if everyone thought the same way. I just wish I had a 
better idea how to help these parents when they come to me. 


Ronda Y. Foust, Librarian 
Hardin Valley Elementary School 
Knoxville, TN 
http://hardinvalleyes.knoxschools.org (then click on Library Media Center) 
http://thebookdragon.blogspot.com 



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