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RE: Middle Grade Fiction and Readers
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From: Steward, Celeste <csteward_at_aclibrary.org>
Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2012 08:52:02 -0700
"But it does mean, as always, we can't close our eyes to the fact that some kids are reading beyond our own personal or even professional comfort zones."
This statement rings true for me as it is my responsibility to decide where titles land: J or Teens' area. This is problematic since our children's co llection includes middle school. It seems as though the tweens have become a hotbed of debate in regards to marketing, media consumption and even read ing habits.
Over the years, I have had staff challenges to a number of middle grade tit les purchased for the children's collection, including Frank Beddor's The L ooking Glass Wars (for violence) and Tonya Hurley's Ghost Girl (content to o dark) series. I have also had library user complaints against Tamora Pier ce's Song of the Lioness series (sex).
When I cannot get past my own filter, I ask other children's staff to read and discuss. It definitely makes for a lively exchange in my library...
Celeste Steward, Librarian IV Collection Development Alameda County Library Fremont, CA
________________________________________
From: Megan Schliesman
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2012 6:56 AM To: ccbc-net, Subscribers of Subject:
Middle Grade Fiction and Readers
I think the "Hunger Games" is a perfect example of a book that challenges us to think about what "middle grade" fiction means to us both professionally and personally, with the acknolwedgement that we might think differently about each, and that young readers themselves may push us to think differently, or at least more broadly.
If you define middle grade as including grades 7 and 8, "Hunger Games" is a perfect fit. But if you think of middle grade as grades 2 or 3 thorugh 6, then it might be a bit of a stretch for some.
I think of "Hunger Games" as young adult--a great book for middle and high school. At the same time, there are certainly elementary-age students not only interested in reading it, but ready for it. That doesn't necessarily mean the elementary library is going to be the place where they find a copy--that's a professional collection development decision up to individual librarians as they apply their selection policy and procedures and strive to meet the needs and interests of the wide range of kids they work with. (At the public library, ,my guess is it's found in the Teen collection more often than Children's, although access is--I hope--equal for all users.) But it does mean, as always, we can't close our eyes to the fact that some kids are reading beyond our own personal or even professional comfort zones.
I was going to wait and suggest "Hunger Games" to my own daughter when she was in sixth grade. This isn't because anything in the content concerned me--I trust she will put a book down if she finds it unsettling, even if she can't ncessarily articulate why. I simply was going to wait because I thought she'd get more out of it when she was a bit older. But in the fall of fifth grade she picked up a copy I had lying around, and that was it--she was hooked. What was even better--she had found it on her own rather than reading it because I suggested it.
Megan
(And three cheers for "Gregor"--absolutely one of my favorite middle grade fantasy series. Perfect for third or fourth grade.)
-- Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
608/262-9503 schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2012 08:52:02 -0700
"But it does mean, as always, we can't close our eyes to the fact that some kids are reading beyond our own personal or even professional comfort zones."
This statement rings true for me as it is my responsibility to decide where titles land: J or Teens' area. This is problematic since our children's co llection includes middle school. It seems as though the tweens have become a hotbed of debate in regards to marketing, media consumption and even read ing habits.
Over the years, I have had staff challenges to a number of middle grade tit les purchased for the children's collection, including Frank Beddor's The L ooking Glass Wars (for violence) and Tonya Hurley's Ghost Girl (content to o dark) series. I have also had library user complaints against Tamora Pier ce's Song of the Lioness series (sex).
When I cannot get past my own filter, I ask other children's staff to read and discuss. It definitely makes for a lively exchange in my library...
Celeste Steward, Librarian IV Collection Development Alameda County Library Fremont, CA
________________________________________
From: Megan Schliesman
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2012 6:56 AM To: ccbc-net, Subscribers of Subject:
Middle Grade Fiction and Readers
I think the "Hunger Games" is a perfect example of a book that challenges us to think about what "middle grade" fiction means to us both professionally and personally, with the acknolwedgement that we might think differently about each, and that young readers themselves may push us to think differently, or at least more broadly.
If you define middle grade as including grades 7 and 8, "Hunger Games" is a perfect fit. But if you think of middle grade as grades 2 or 3 thorugh 6, then it might be a bit of a stretch for some.
I think of "Hunger Games" as young adult--a great book for middle and high school. At the same time, there are certainly elementary-age students not only interested in reading it, but ready for it. That doesn't necessarily mean the elementary library is going to be the place where they find a copy--that's a professional collection development decision up to individual librarians as they apply their selection policy and procedures and strive to meet the needs and interests of the wide range of kids they work with. (At the public library, ,my guess is it's found in the Teen collection more often than Children's, although access is--I hope--equal for all users.) But it does mean, as always, we can't close our eyes to the fact that some kids are reading beyond our own personal or even professional comfort zones.
I was going to wait and suggest "Hunger Games" to my own daughter when she was in sixth grade. This isn't because anything in the content concerned me--I trust she will put a book down if she finds it unsettling, even if she can't ncessarily articulate why. I simply was going to wait because I thought she'd get more out of it when she was a bit older. But in the fall of fifth grade she picked up a copy I had lying around, and that was it--she was hooked. What was even better--she had found it on her own rather than reading it because I suggested it.
Megan
(And three cheers for "Gregor"--absolutely one of my favorite middle grade fantasy series. Perfect for third or fourth grade.)
-- Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
608/262-9503 schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
---Received on Fri 13 Jul 2012 08:52:02 AM CDT
