Case (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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fandomsecrets2015-04-26 03:36 pm
case) wrote in fandomsecrets2015-04-26 03:36 pm
[ SECRET POST #3035 ]
⌈ Secret Post #3035 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 081 secrets from Secret Submission Post #434.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
Re: Being Pro-Censorship
There's a difference between having age and reading level appropriate materials and censoring it. And tbh, with a budget of less than 8$/student? I'm fairly choosey about what I'll buy--I've seen this called censorship. *shrug* But when you consider that I have to spend a good portion of my budget on books and materials that support the curriculum--which is the main focus of the school library, not providing all books for all people...it makes it easier to make those decisions and exclude things.
Also, I'm pretty sure most schools in Can/US have provincial/state guidelines wrt to what can or cannot be in the school library and what we're expected to provide.
For instance, I have grade 5 kids coming in and asking for the Hunger Games. I have not and will never buy them for my elementary schools, not even as a behind the counter thing. The language and topics in the books are not age appropriate (Never mind scholastic book clubs putting them in the flyers for the grade 5s, but Scholastic is a different rant.) One of my grade 5 teachers read the story to his class last year--with a lot of editing, I'm hoping. I've read all three books. Not. Appropriate. Sure I might have a handful of 10 year olds who'd have the skills to actual read and comprehend it, but I'm not sure they're mature enough to deal with it. But you know what? I have other books which will challenge them and that deal with appropriate topics for 10 year olds.
If parents want to buy those books and let their kids read them or let them borrow them from the public library? I have no problem with that. I can't justify them in my library. I understand them wanting to read it--after all I was sneak-reading VC Andrews at 11 and was plain out reading Stephen King by 13.
I could give you several examples, but there's a lot that has to be taken into consideration in school libraries. And I agree with you that context is important, but at a certain point, if the book is that problematic, it shouldn't be on the shelves. That's why I don't have the Little House on the Prairies series on my shelves; in it, Wilder talks about Native Americans very negatively (and fails to mention that her father and several others were squatting on what was supposed to be Native Am. lands...). I don't want a First Nations kid reading that and internalizing that it's okay for someone to treat them that way...anymore than I want white kids reading it and thinking it's okay to treat FN peoples that way. I carry other books which are similar in theme to the LH books, which ARE fiction--we don't shelve those in the 973s. Sure it was LIW's experience but as the OP said, the context isn't there for a child reading it on their own (and my kids? are NOT going to read supplemental materials explaining that context). I'm not advocating banning the books, but I'll spend my budget money on better, more inclusive resources.
It really is a balancing act and I don't think it's wrong to be concerned with how kids will interpret something in a book.
Re: Being Pro-Censorship
(Anonymous) 2015-04-26 10:32 pm (UTC)(link)I mean sure, you still need to be careful about making sure they understand the context of what they are reading. But I recall middle school as being the time when I really started to question and think for myself, and I was able to handle most adult books.
I actually think kids in general are more intelligent and can handle more then we give them credit for, but PARENTS are a huge issue in that they want a lot censored and arguing with them about something being educational is not worth the battle half the time.
Re: Being Pro-Censorship
(Anonymous) 2015-04-26 10:41 pm (UTC)(link)This, especially in books. Reading takes a more active mind than movies/TV, I think. Not that it's impossible for a kid to be badly influenced by a book but honestly, kids can handle and understand a fair bit more than adults like to give them credit for.
Re: Being Pro-Censorship
(Anonymous) 2015-04-26 10:36 pm (UTC)(link)But I don't know, man. Some books just get kids into reading. Hunger Games is ultra violent, I agree. But it's also a YA book, and fifth and sixth graders are totally equipped to handle that. I don't think reading a violent book is the same as even watching a violent show or playing a violent game, it's its own experience. More than that, I think as a librarian you should want to hook kids on reading, and they want to read stuff that's enjoyable, or that they can be passionate about, or even become fans of.
I mean, in third grade I was reading Animorphs. Looking back, that was way violent and as an adult I could say "no, not appropriate". But it was exciting to me, it hooked me on reading, it made me passionate about books.
Obviously there is a line, but I'd think young adult books, especially pop culture YA books, are certainly not bad to have in an elementary library. Especially since YA books will almost indefinitely conclude with some kind of moral lesson about being good, and characters wanting to be good. I mean it isn't Fight Club or something. reading the Hunger Games with any kind of understanding of the plot isn't teaching anyone that violence is good. Since it's treated as a bad thing, I guess I think there's even less of a dilemma.
Re: Being Pro-Censorship
It's the same with Animorphs--it is written FOR that age group--probably more 4s and 5s than 3s, but you are not comparing similar works.
Being able to read isn't just about processing the words on the page. It's also about comprehension, understanding what you're reading. I'm not sure that most 10 year olds are going to understand a dystopia. Sure they've probably seen the movies, but how much do they understand?
I have a lot of kids take out Harry Potter when they're no where near that reading/comprehension level...and I let them (The only group I outright keep away from chapter books are the primaries--they barely know their alphabet.) Unless I get specific instructions from the classroom teacher, I generally don't stop a kid from signing out whatever they want, whether they can read it or not. I'm pretty sure that encourages a love of reading, too. I don't need to have age inappropriate books in my library to encourage my kids to read.
And if I did have HG in my library, I wouldn't be able to have them out on the shelf, it'd be a behind the counter thing--which I won't do. I hated it when it was done to me in junior high.
Re: Being Pro-Censorship
"When the term first found common usage in the late 1960’s, it referred to realistic fiction that was set in the real (as opposed to imagined), contemporary world and addressed problems, issues, and life circumstances of interest to young readers aged approximately 12-18. Such titles were issued by the children’s book divisions of American publishers and were marketed to institutions – libraries and schools – that served such populations.
While some of this remains true today, much else has changed. In recent years, for example, the size of this population group has changed dramatically. ... The size of this population segment has also increased as the conventional definition of “young adult” has expanded to include those as young as ten and, since the late 1990s, as old as twenty-five."
http://www.ala.org/yalsa/guidelines/whitepapers/yalit
So, yes, some YA literature is perfectly appropriate for 10-12 year olds. Heck, I was reading adult literature by the time I was 12. I'm not saying you need to include Hunger Games in your library, but I very much disagree with the idea that YA literature is for ages 16 to 25. (As would my YA literature class when I was going for my MLS.)
Re: Being Pro-Censorship
(Anonymous) 2015-04-27 09:15 am (UTC)(link)I mean, absolutely, books that are simply too advanced in terms of reading comprehension aren't best placed in a primary school library. But I'm fairly certain plenty of sixth graders would be more than comfortable reading The Hunger Games.
And I'm not sure what you mean by kids not understanding dystopia? I reckon it's fairly simple to understand, especially how most YA books would portray them (which would tend to be fairly simple, good guys and bad guys). They're not preparing themselves to write a doctoral thesis, after all.
I mean honestly, your school sounds pretty damn strict. My primary school library had plenty of young adult books, especially if they were popular ones.