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RE: Re:the missing issue
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From: CARPENTER, JEFFREY J <CARPENTERJEFFR_at_aasd.k12.wi.us>
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:47:53 -0500
No you are not wrong. I feel it is our responsibility to have a balanced c ollection and to order materials for all kinds of interests.
Jeff
From: bookmarch_at_aol.com
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2010 9:36 AM To: maggie_bo_at_comcast.net Cc: ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu; csteward@aclibrary.org; gholch@nyc.rr.com Subject: Re:
the missing issue
In talking about nonfiction and popularity there is one topic that I think we've danced around. Last month in the Professional Responsibility strand o ne person posted about her experience of subscribing to a magazine that her 10 year olds liked, that was thoughtful, well done, serious, responsible, but which was about guns and hunting, and so distressed her peers. In my ex perience going to schools one of the most popular areas on nonfiction has t o do with war -- weapons certainly, but also -- and often in the most serio us, students who are deeply engaged in their own research -- strategies, ta ctics, generals, famous battles. This runs from the elementary school kids intrested in Vikings through the High School kids reading adult books on sp ecific battles and regiments. I suspect that we as a profession do not valu e that set of interests as highly as we do, say, kids drawn to fantasy nove ls or "realistic" fiction. In other words, is part of the issue what we are willing to credit as a form of passiona te reading, not just whether young people are in fact impassioned readers.
How many libraries have a Books About Battles club -- versus how many libra ries have a Novel Reading club? I am willing to bet that if a library had a Books About Battles club -- complete with maps, military atlases, bios, pe rhaps war games software, books with lists of the kinds of ammunition, or p lanes, or tanks, or swords employed it would it would be wildly popular -- and filled with kids who would not otherwise be in a Teen Reading Group.
Am I wrong?
Marc Aronson
Received on Thu 14 Oct 2010 09:47:53 AM CDT
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:47:53 -0500
No you are not wrong. I feel it is our responsibility to have a balanced c ollection and to order materials for all kinds of interests.
Jeff
From: bookmarch_at_aol.com
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2010 9:36 AM To: maggie_bo_at_comcast.net Cc: ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu; csteward@aclibrary.org; gholch@nyc.rr.com Subject: Re:
the missing issue
In talking about nonfiction and popularity there is one topic that I think we've danced around. Last month in the Professional Responsibility strand o ne person posted about her experience of subscribing to a magazine that her 10 year olds liked, that was thoughtful, well done, serious, responsible, but which was about guns and hunting, and so distressed her peers. In my ex perience going to schools one of the most popular areas on nonfiction has t o do with war -- weapons certainly, but also -- and often in the most serio us, students who are deeply engaged in their own research -- strategies, ta ctics, generals, famous battles. This runs from the elementary school kids intrested in Vikings through the High School kids reading adult books on sp ecific battles and regiments. I suspect that we as a profession do not valu e that set of interests as highly as we do, say, kids drawn to fantasy nove ls or "realistic" fiction. In other words, is part of the issue what we are willing to credit as a form of passiona te reading, not just whether young people are in fact impassioned readers.
How many libraries have a Books About Battles club -- versus how many libra ries have a Novel Reading club? I am willing to bet that if a library had a Books About Battles club -- complete with maps, military atlases, bios, pe rhaps war games software, books with lists of the kinds of ammunition, or p lanes, or tanks, or swords employed it would it would be wildly popular -- and filled with kids who would not otherwise be in a Teen Reading Group.
Am I wrong?
Marc Aronson
Received on Thu 14 Oct 2010 09:47:53 AM CDT
