From: James Elliott <j_c_elliott>
Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2007 13:13:46 -0500

Robin,

I think you 'nailed' it in the paragraph below. It's not our job as librarians to defend a work, but to allow it to speak for itself. There are a lot of books I don't like because of their philosopy ("His Dark Materials"); or references to sexuality (even some of one of my favorite authors like Madeline L'Engle and Anne McCaffrey get explicit sometimes); or whatever, but I'm not going to advocate pulling them off the shelf. I will make sure, however, that there are books presenting alternate views when I recommend ordering items for the library, so patrons have a wide spectrum of viewpoints.

Jim


>From: "Robin Smith" <smithr at ensworth.com>
>>
>AND, having said all that, I wonder why "the word" has to be defended at
>all. The book is in print. The book has received all sorts of acclaim. The
>book has been well reviewed and the book has won the Newbery. Buy it. Put
>it on your library shelf. No one is forcing anyone to check it our or read
>it aloud or read it at all.
>
>Robin Smith
>Grade two teacher
>Nashville, TN
>
>
Received on Sun 18 Feb 2007 12:13:46 PM CST