Hi All, I have had Meg and Mog's adventures challenged (primary style
picture books for beginning readers, Meg is a stick figure witch and Mog
is her cat and Judy Blume's 'Forever'.
Use the challenge policy both times - very straightforward process. Both
parents declined to take the matter to the next level when faced with
the process.
:)
BC
Vice President, Advocacy & Promotion, IASL: www.iasl-online.org
LIS@ECU: http://www.chs.ecu.edu.au/portals/LIS/index.php
Australian School Library Research Project:
http://www.chs.ecu.edu.au/portals/ASLRP/
Barbara Combes, Lecturer
School of Computer and Information Science Edith Cowan University, Perth
Western Australia
Ph: (08) 9370 6072
Email: b.combes@ecu.edu.au
"Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that
of an ignorant nation." Walter Cronkite
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-----Original Message-----
From: School Library Media & Network Communications
[mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Ronda Foust
Sent: Sunday, 15 March 2009 4:26 AM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: [LM_NET] 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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