AR . . . to use or not to use . . .

I was very interested in learning the detail and collaboration in which the book And Tango Makes Three came to fruition. The thought and detail with all that were involved makes the book all the more special (Young, C. A. 2011). To be honest, I had heard of the book, but I hadn't read it before this class. I love the book for many reasons, the biggest being that I love animals. It is such a natural response to the love that the penguins have for each other. I’m bummed that parents wouldn’t want their children to see this and see natural responses from animals in a true setting.

In reading a response from a parent that by reading this book, her child may be encouraged to be gay, I am amazed that a parent would think this. How can a children's picture book encourage the sexual orientation of a child? I need to become more familiar with responses and situations that I may become confronted with.

I have had two situations in which a parent has complained. One was a note from a parent about a book that a child had selected from a Little Free Library (LFL) that I started last year outside of our school. Her child selected a Halloween themed book. All books that go into the Little Free Library are donated by parents. I taught the children how to use the LFL. The parent was upset that I let the child bring home a book that had this content and that this type of book caused her child to have bad dreams. I let the parent know that her child selected the book and that I didn't have any part of the selection. I suggested that she go over this with her child. The child shouldn't choose books that might give him nightmares if this was going to happen. I also let her know that she was welcomed to return the book with her child and he could select another one. I never heard from the parent again.

The second situation was when my principal brought a book to me that had SEX on the spine label. The author's name was Sexton. He said that a parent had brought the book to him explaining that the word "sex" was on the spine. I said, "Yes, that is the abbreviation for the author's name." He said, "What do you want to do about it?". Well, obviously I told him that I didn't want to do anything about it except return the book to the shelf. I can't do anything about an author's name. Seriously, I don't even know why he brought that to my attention, surely he could have solved that one on his own. But, I'm happy to help when needed?! That was something that I never envisioned having to think about.

The reading this week was informative and brought a lot to my attention, one being that I need to be prepared and knowledgeable for what I may need to deal with in the future. I was glad to see the study done with the small group of students about censorship (Isajlovic-Terry, 2012). It was nice to hear thoughts from that age about what should be in a library. I found it very interested that most book that they thought should not be on their shelves included violence. But, when you look at what the parents allow at home, much of it is violent gaming. That is going to have such a larger effect on a child than reading a book such as Jacob’s New Dress or Worm Loves Worm, at least in my opinion. I would be much more concerned about that. The children were also quick to point out that if a parent doesn't want the book available, they had ways around it and would still be able to obtain the book. Parents shouldn’t underestimate what lengths a child will go to or what will cause them to be interested.