I noticed a few posters mentioned School Library Jounal the last couple of days. I
am a little bit unimpressed with their reviews lately and I am wondering if I am
too uptight - or if they are too liberal. One thing I have noticed is that an
awful lot of SCHOOL Library Journal reviews are written by Public Library (not
public SCHOOL)librarians. I purchased America by Frank last year and happened to
take it home to read when it came in. It was a very interesting book - and I sent
it on to a high school because it was definately high school material, not the Gr 8
and above it stated in the review. This afternoon, an hour after school was out, I
was called into the pricipal's office about the book Angst - a collection of
poetry. (I should have paid closer attention to Alice Yucht and left on time...)
It was another 'Gr 8 and above' that was more of a way above than grade 8. This is
what I wrote to my principal:
The 'strong language'(the review did have a warning) should have been a tip - but I
was focusing more on the "hard-hitting verse that may be just what today's teens
can relate to." It is another Gr. 8 and Up from School Library Journal that really
should be high school. Although from what you showed me, it really doesn't belong
in a school library at all.
I apologize for the poor selection and I am not renewing my subscription to School
Library Journal, I think that Book List and Book Report are more in tune with the
school population.
I am wondering, however, just how gentle your image of what we have in the media
center is. We have Princess Diaries - the sentence that shocked some of the girls
last year was a recounting of an actual news story where the doctor used vaginal
tissue to fashion lips for someone. Then there is The Sisterhood of the Traveling
Pants where a high school girl loses her virginity with a camp counselor, It
Happened to Nancy where the protagonist gets AIDS from a much older guy who she
thinks loves her - and even the Lottery Rose which is a story of child abuse. The
later two are class sets. We don't have the most requested book at another Middle
School - Death from child abuse-- and no one heard - a really graphic story of
child abuse that I still don't think should be in a middle school library - and one
that some students have asked for.
When I was a young teen my reading focused on Marguerite Henry and Albert Payson
Terhune books. We have some of the former - but they've been collecting dust - and
the latter is out of print - but they are not the types of book students today (or
even most of my contemporaries back then...) are interested in. I tell the
students during orientation that they should read a page or two from the middle of
a book to see if it grabs their interest - maybe I should also remind them that
some books might disturb them (which reminds me of another book we have which I
don't personally care for, "Cirque du Freak" - or even the Goosebumps books - but
some kids like scary stories) but appeal to other students and that we have books
for a wide variety of interests. I think the book you showed me today would really
have appealed to some of last year's eighth grade students - but it definately is
not for most of the sixth graders.
I guess I am venting to all of you because it is after 10 at night and I still feel
bad about being called to the principal's office over a selection I made - but I
wonder how many others rely on reviews. I know Frerick Muller reads everything
before he puts it on the shelf - I don't have time for that with all the books I
ordered last year but maybe I should order a lot less books and take the time to
read every one of them ?!
Mary Ann Shaffer
Media Specialist
Carver Middle School
Orlando, FL
shaffermas@aol.com
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