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I appreciate Dr. Cuseo's comments and book selection procedures would
make an excellent thread for this list.  It is one of those things that
should be rehashed every once in a while.

For my part, it would be impossible to read every title I buy.  When I
started here, 8 years ago, this was a typical California school library.
  The average book was 28 years old and most were a health hazard due to
dust and mold.  I had the good fortune to have a principal who saw the
library as a key to increasing literacy (imagine that!) and who put his
money where his mouth is.  We have spent over $200,000 since then on
library books and we are about half way to having a model library (at
least for California, our average pub date now is 1987).  That is a lot
of books in a relatively short time.  This year, a relatively lean one
for this school, I have already purchased almost 200 new fiction titles.
  With all of the hats I wear around here I am lucky to have the time to
read the reviews.  Add a family with two small children and my need to
occasionally read adult books and, on rare occasions, sleep there is
just no time.

The need to take advantage of available funding-- which in California is
a rare thing, to undo 20 years of criminal neglect of school libraries
trumps the need to know in detail each volume in my library.

The book in question was bought by me after reading several glowing
reviews, including a Booklist starred review.  I try to rely on multiple
reviews when ever possible.  Thanks to tools like Titlewave from Follett
that is much easier.  Of course it is not perfect and some questionable
books will get through.  But we do have a reconsideration policy in
place and it is being followed.

I am about 2/3 through with _Life is Funny_ and I have
mixed feelings about it.  Parts of it are excellent but it is the
harshest, most graphic teen novel I have ever read.  I am not sure I
would have purchased it if I had read it first but I will wait until I
finish it before making a final judgment.  It has circulated here 16
times in the last three years and the students I have talked to don't
see the big deal; to them it is just very realistic.  Many of our
students suffer through the same problems as the novel's protagonists
and they use the same harsh vocabulary when they talk to each other.

If you have the book in your collection I would read it.  I am sure a
lot of librarians would be shocked by it.  Personally, I would not put
it in a jr. high or a parochial school library.  For some high schools,
though it may be appropriate.
----
Tony Doyle, Librarian
Livingston High School, Livingston, CA
tdoyle@muhsd.k12.ca.us
<Http://www.lhs.muhsd.k12.ca.us/library/index.htm>
"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture.  Just get
people to stop reading them."-- Ray Bradbury


Dr. Allan O'Grady Cuseo wrote:
> I am not taking a stand on this title - as I have not read it.... I
> wish the district well which is involved in the controversy. I don't
> particularly enjoy Frank as an author anyway. I do notice that
> several middle and high schools in my area do own it. I have
> advocated (and been highly criticized for such) for the past 40 yrs
> that I will put no fiction on the shelf until I had read it and I
> have evaluated it. Non fiction I scan - content and index - but
> fiction I read cover to cover. Even as a reviewer I have always
> cautioned - do not rely on reviews - "it is only one person's
> opinion" - not the truth to end all truths. I believe that philosophy
>  holds  for anything- reviews in professional periodicals, ALA lists,
>  etc.
>
> Sorry for spouting my philosophy I felt like  getting on my soapbox
> this snowy Friday afternoon.
>
> Allan
>
> Dr. Allan O'Grady Cuseo (Brother Donogh Allan, MGC) Bishop Kearney
> High School Library 125 Kings Highway South Rochester, New York 14617

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