Oh Dear John….Green–you’re in the news. :(
Mar 12th, 2012 by Cathy Jo Nelson
And the headline read:
Pornographic required reading in Knox Schools?
Posted by The Knoxville Journal on March 9th, 2012
http://theknoxvillejournal.com/pornographic-required-reading-in-knox-schools/
If you haven’t read it, go ahead, though many can probably guess at the knee-jerk reaction the disgruntled parents and media are clamoring for.
My take aways after reading this article?
- Work as a committee to develop a recommended reading list
- Be very reluctant to make it a required list, but instead encourage the committee to have choices available.
- Add an asterisk to books that contain profanity+ (note I didn’t say leave them off.)
- Make sure my admin will support the titles on the list.
- Don’t rush to embrace a title just because it is an award winner, but instead embrace the overal morals and values of my school community–not all books fit.
Just being an outsider looking in, I have to wonder what process was used to put this book on a “required” reading list, even if it is for Honors and Advanced Placement classes. Was it the only choice? We haven’t heard much of a response from the school, other than they pulled it off the list, at least so says the article.
Sigh. Let’s examine the book a little.
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Interest Level: YA
Reviews & Awards
Michael L. Printz Award 2006*
Wilson’s Senior High School 10/01/07
Teacher Librarian 06/01/06
Five Owls 04/01/06
Booklist 03/01/05
Publishers Weekly 02/07/05
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books starred 02/01/05
School Library Journal starred 02/01/05
Horn Book 03/01/05
Kirkus Reviews starred 03/01/05
Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) starred 04/01/05
Library Media Connection starred 11/01/05
The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association. The award is sponsored by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association.
While the reviews don’t really reveal all that much about the contents of the book, the readers in GoodReads do. More and more I find myself consulting this and Shelfari for a better overall picture of titles I haven’t read.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/99561.Looking_for_Alaska
Disclosure–I have not read this one though I have read others by John Green, most recently The Fault in Our Stars–an excellent book. His work is teen relevant, current, and grabs the YA audience. His books definitely appeal to those kids who never really enjoyed reading books.
Another disclosure–we have the book in our library.
Well stated. I try to read all the books that might be a bit more controversial and – if is well written and of merit it – goes onto our library shelves but I always need to understand why I believe that any book should be on our shelves and be able to articulate that to others. I also concur that it is better to be prepared before there is any problem by having a procedures policy in place to handle any questioning of a title.
I also agree that making something like” Looking for Alaska” required reading has the potential to cause more problems as we have a wide range of sensibilities in our student and parent population and they range from quite conservative to quite progressive
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