From: Robin Smith <robinsmith59>
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005 15:03:56 -0500

from Dean Schneider:

I'll second Julie Corsaro's recommendation of Geert Spillebeen's Kipling's Choice. What a powerful novel! "How many boys have I written into the grave?" wonders a broken Rudyard Kipling after his son's death and after all of the patriotic, war-time writing he, the father, had done. And how many current appeals to patriotism have sent young people to their graves?

 Susan Campbell Bartoletti's Hitler Youth is a powerful nonfiction account of how Hitler used the youth of Germany for his purposes and how easy it was to manipulate the children of Germany. Not all went along, though, and their story parallels the story of who did. It's one new book that will immediately find its way into my program with my 8th graders this year.

And speaking of my 8th graders, I meant to chime in on the discussion of "How far is too far?" My 8th-grade boys who are big readers tend to read big fantasy novels or sports novels (counting Chris Crutcher in that category -- sports, but much more). But they don't tend to choose the more realistic, edgier titles, even if I recommend them. A few of the girls read a wide range, but many get hooked on what they themselves call "girlie girl" books. I read as much as I can, and I review a lot of books for that age, so I keep up with what's available. Some books are quite good: the Traveling Pants series, Louise Rennison's Angus, Thongs series (despite their suggestive titles), Sonya Sones's What My Mother Doesn't Know and others, and Maureen Johnson's The Bermudez Triangle and The Key to the Golden Firebird, Sara Dessen's books, and others I can't think of at the moment. These have many of the strong themes discussed recently, but they are well written and humane, not sensationalized, and you know they were each written from the author's heart
(which I believe M. E. Kerr said, and I thinks it's a good criterion). These 8th grade girls also read the endless Gossip Girls and other series I think are not especially good; these, I feel, are sleazy, cheap substitutions for good literature, and I hate to see smart kids spending all of their free reading time on them.

I have a big classroom library with all sorts of books, including a stash I keep in a cabinet which the 8th graders know about -- books I think are appropriate for their age and older -- the YA range (but not for the younger students I teach). I figure it's my classroom, I'll decide what's going to be in it. I have the Traveling Pants, Angus, Thongs, Maureen Johnson's, Chris Crutcher, Sara Dessen, etc. I do not have Gossip Girls; I still remember when the first one was becoming popular, and one of my students said, "Mr. Schneider, you probably don't want to have this in your library." So I don't. During free reading times, students can pretty much read what they want, but some books they have to go out and get for themselves if they're so eager to have them. It's partly MY decision as to appropriateness and partly a financial decision: I can only afford so much, and I'm not going to waste my money on books I consider sleazy marketing ploys.

It is a tricky thing, though. I know the books, and I make my own decisions, but in a bookstore, the books are out there, and most parents and kids don't really know what's good and what isn't. Probably a really good book, written for teenagers, will not warp a younger reader, but I'm not so sure about some of these other books that offer cheap thrills but not the substance of good writing, strong characters, etc.


Dean Schneider The Ensworth School Nashville, Tennessee 37212 schneiderd at ensworth.com
Received on Wed 29 Jun 2005 03:03:56 PM CDT