Re: Goosebumps & Accelerated Reader

[Joan Kimball <jkim@BORG.COM>]

Joyce H. Nelson wrote:

>Hello, LM_NETTERS.  I'm the lms for a K-5 school and am seeking your opinion
>regarding R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps" series.  Although I've never
>purchased these books for my school, some of my teachers, as well as my
>principal, approached me about purchasing an Accelerated Reader disk for
>these titles. They claim the kids read them all the time and could score
>numerous AR points if they had the disk!  I'm aware of concerns these
>books sometimes generate and cannot see purchasing a disk for books which
>I don't include in my collection. It was suggested that parents sign a
>permission form in order to allow their children to take the Stine AR
>tests; however, I don't see this as the solution.  Would greatly
>appreciate any thoughts, pro or con, you have on the matter.  Sincerely,
>Joyce H. Nelson
>jhn100g@barbados.cc.odu.edu  or  jhnelson@pen.k12.va.us

For what it's worth, Joyce, I have had Goosebumps books in my K-5 school
for the last four years.
I started with 15 and had a stampede.  By the end of year #2 I had 60 copies
of about 25 titles.  They were so popular I had 3 or 4 reserve slips on each
copy last year and the year before, and 15 "disappeared".  This year they
are mostly out, seldom on the shelf, but the craze has subsided and they
are seldom reserved.  Quite a borrowing curve, I'd say.  I bought no
new ones this year and only 3 copies of 3 titles last year.  So,  I believe
that you may have an initial run, but it won't last.  I provide a semi-permanent
collection of other mysteries and ghost stories which I call "Before and
After Reading Goosebumps".

One thing I did in the beginning when I first got Goosebumps was to write
in the school newsletter to parents that I was getting the series because
it encouraged non-readers and because I believe that a child hooked on a
series increases reading speed, becomes a reader, and eventually a critic
when she realizes that she's encountered the same plot and characters,
slightly changed, in 10 different titles.

I think it's OK to have the series.  It promises scary
things, but there is little graphic violence, no sex, no bad words.  (So
the plots are formulated and the characters are pretty flat, it's true.) No
parent has objected.  Several parents and several teachers have told me
that the series started their non-reader reading.  (One teacher said she
worried about the children's writing abilities...they were becoming fixated
on trying to write in a sensational manner. I say, the teacher has a golden
opportunity to demonstrate good and bad writing.)  It might be worth
talking with  first and second graders who borrow the books
 about what is real and what is fantasy in the stories. (I haven't done
this, but think I should.)

Joan


Joan Kimball (jkim@borg.com)
Clinton, NY
Hart's Hill Elementary School Library
Whitesboro, NY