On The Edge

Reader’s AdvisoryAn African American

student approaches you looking for a story with African American characters “like her.” She’s a well spoken,

college bound child of a middle class,

professional family.What do you recommend?

Consider this…• Richard Peck: “Now …we’re told to march to the

beat of multiculturalism. This baffles novelists who thought we’d been celebrating a cultural mix of this country well before the textbooks touched on it… Unless a book is to be judged by the race of its author. In which case we are standing on the edge of an abyss…”

• Jane Yolen: “What we are seeing now in children’s books is an increasing push toward what I call the Balkanization of literature. We are drawing rigid borders across the world of story, demanding people tell only their own stories… [this means] no stories at all could be told about some peoples or cultures until such a time as a powerful voice from within that culture emerges.”

“Kids often live stories we would never let them read.”

Selection vs. Self Censorship

“It is easy tolook at the community and anticipate a challenge if a

book on this topic or that hot button issue is selected.

However, library professionals should not prejudge a

book, predicting that it may trigger a challenge.”

Challenges and Censorship

“Some people want to protect kids by keeping them from

reading certain things, while those opposing censorship think

that reading is essential to protect kids from ignorance and

confusion”

What steps do you need to take to prepare for a book challenge?

Selection Policies

Examine the policy you brought from your own school, or one of the samples on the wiki.

What are the values of having such a policy? Are there drawbacks?

What things to you think are non-negotiable (all selections policies should contain them)?

For next week

• See if you can find out what book vendor your library uses. Ask your librarian why he/she uses this vendor. If he/she uses more than one, under what circumstances do they use each?

• Have your final book order list ready to go for an in-class activity