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How much do we tell the children? Q2 Do we agree on the boundaries of acceptable books?
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From: Charles Bayless <charles.bayless_at_ttmd.com>
Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2011 13:49:58 -0500
Do we agree on the boundaries of acceptable books? We seem to have potentially three different categories of "challenging" books which potentially overlap to some degree.
The first might be those that involve personal circumstances that are difficult - orientation, coercive sex, afflictions, abortion, isolation, suicide, traumatic death, etc. Here, the book is serving a bibliotherapeutic purpose by telling stories we want to tell because they might assist others in some fashion either by lessons learned, dangers to avoid, or "you are not aloneness".
The second category of challenging books might have to do with issues about which we think children ought to be aware in some fashion, not that they are facing or likely to face the issue themselves. Drought and famine, female genital mutilation, profound material poverty, environmental degradation, apartheid, human trafficking, might all be examples of things that are real but that your average American city dwelling school child is unlikely to encounter but which we might consider important for them to be aware of.
The third category; pick a neutral term. Shock Books? Books in which language, plot, characters, etc. demonstrate traits, behaviors, language, etc. beyond the social norms primarily in order to draw-in readers.
I think most of us draw a distinction between these three and might be more inclined to let in the first two and perhaps not the third. Or rather, we would treat the third as different. Restricted access perhaps. But that is a slippery slope. Once we acknowledge some to be acceptable but not others, then we are ceding the authority to prioritize or ban books which I think all of us are viscerally opposed to.
So we have three categories of "challenging", "difficult" or "inappropriate" books: Bibliotherapy books, Issue books, and Shock books. Do we treat them the same or differently and how do we introduce them to children via parents? I like Miriam's formulation that there are some books which can serve a purpose (bibliotherapeutic or horizon expansion) but which are not appropriate to general circulation where they might cause as much harm as good. Just-In-Case books. I would argue that the we need to develop a means for distinguishing these three categories from books that are potentially appropriate to all people and are unlikely to have a negative impact. When know where to draw that line, we then still have books, Just-In-Case books (bibliotherapeutic and horizon expanding) which might serve some select individuals well but which are problematic from a community norms perspective, that we still might wish to acquire but which have to be managed differently. Then there are the Shock books which we probably si mply elect not to acquire.
Charles
Received on Sun 27 Nov 2011 01:49:58 PM CST
Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2011 13:49:58 -0500
Do we agree on the boundaries of acceptable books? We seem to have potentially three different categories of "challenging" books which potentially overlap to some degree.
The first might be those that involve personal circumstances that are difficult - orientation, coercive sex, afflictions, abortion, isolation, suicide, traumatic death, etc. Here, the book is serving a bibliotherapeutic purpose by telling stories we want to tell because they might assist others in some fashion either by lessons learned, dangers to avoid, or "you are not aloneness".
The second category of challenging books might have to do with issues about which we think children ought to be aware in some fashion, not that they are facing or likely to face the issue themselves. Drought and famine, female genital mutilation, profound material poverty, environmental degradation, apartheid, human trafficking, might all be examples of things that are real but that your average American city dwelling school child is unlikely to encounter but which we might consider important for them to be aware of.
The third category; pick a neutral term. Shock Books? Books in which language, plot, characters, etc. demonstrate traits, behaviors, language, etc. beyond the social norms primarily in order to draw-in readers.
I think most of us draw a distinction between these three and might be more inclined to let in the first two and perhaps not the third. Or rather, we would treat the third as different. Restricted access perhaps. But that is a slippery slope. Once we acknowledge some to be acceptable but not others, then we are ceding the authority to prioritize or ban books which I think all of us are viscerally opposed to.
So we have three categories of "challenging", "difficult" or "inappropriate" books: Bibliotherapy books, Issue books, and Shock books. Do we treat them the same or differently and how do we introduce them to children via parents? I like Miriam's formulation that there are some books which can serve a purpose (bibliotherapeutic or horizon expansion) but which are not appropriate to general circulation where they might cause as much harm as good. Just-In-Case books. I would argue that the we need to develop a means for distinguishing these three categories from books that are potentially appropriate to all people and are unlikely to have a negative impact. When know where to draw that line, we then still have books, Just-In-Case books (bibliotherapeutic and horizon expanding) which might serve some select individuals well but which are problematic from a community norms perspective, that we still might wish to acquire but which have to be managed differently. Then there are the Shock books which we probably si mply elect not to acquire.
Charles
Received on Sun 27 Nov 2011 01:49:58 PM CST
