Parent Complaint/question

[Sarah Woo <woo@simmons.edu>]

Hello All-

I am wondering how some of you might respond to the following remarks by
a parent of a "new" sixth grader.  Since I was the library aide at her
child's elementary school (from which he just "graduated" in June), she
wanted to know my opinions about the summer reading list given to the
middle schoolers in June, specifically regarding one book by Chris
Crutcher that she found inappropriate for a student entering 6th grade.
She said it had the "f-word" in it and there were other objectionable
phrases.  We didn't have a chance to finish the conversation, but I
would like to pursue it with her.  I did let her know who was
responsible for putting together the list, since that was her initial
question,  but she wanted to know if I thought she was off base in
complaining.  As a parent, I could understand her concern, but as an
MLS/SLMS student, I am hearing that children won't read what they aren't
ready for, a few phrases aren't going to ruin a book, we need to be
careful of censorship, etc. but I don't really have a good, coherent
response to these types of questions.

Any opinions?

Thanks.

Sarah Woo
woo@simmons.edu

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