Letters

Making a case for good school library practice

Perhaps Doug Johnson ('It's Good to Be Inflexible ,' November 2001) is right to suggest that the school library field is concentrating too much on structure. Maybe the real issue we should be discussing is not scheduling, but rather good practice versus bad practice, and how to best build the structures that underlie excellence in school library media programming.

It is good practice to encourage reading. Students must know that they can come to the library any time before, during, and after the school day to read, return, and check out more books, even when library classes are in session. Discouraging students' free access to the library is bad practice and detrimental to the encouragement of reading. It's inconceivable to expect that an entire third grade class has finished reading their library books by 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Wednesday is not library day. EVERY day is library day.

It is good practice to collaborate with classroom teachers to teach information literacy skills. It raises the level of content instruction, provides opportunities for inquiry learning, and promotes an interdisciplinary approach to information literacy standards found in both subject and information skills curricula. It is bad practice to limit spontaneous teacher use of the library or discourage small group use without advance notice. It is also bad practice to teach fragmented library skills with no application, therefore isolating information skills instruction as something extra and apart from the curricular life of the school.

Advocates for school library programs need to clearly define good practice. Fixed scheduling can be a barrier to good practice. Flex scheduling is not in itself good practice. It depends on what happens within each structure, not the structure itself.

Fixed scheduling does serve a purpose within the school. It provides the classroom teacher with a much-needed planning period. However, the instructional value of the library as a learning laboratory must move beyond this. Unlike Doug Johnson, I see no value in using a master's-degreed teacher to provide planning period coverage. A principal surely understands that the same coverage can happen with a minimum-wage teacher aide to take the children out to recess. If planning period coverage is the value placed on the library program in the school, the dollars are not on our side. Dollars spent on the library program only make sense if there is a positive impact on student achievement. Good library practice does that.

Gail Dickinson
Assistant Professor
Department of Library and Information Studies
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Greensboro, NC

I was interested to see you review of Parents Wanted (Milkweed, 2001; Nov., p. 158), a book I had recently read, but then I was surprised at the critical comments. I teach a multi-age grades 4/5 class of 24 students. Our school promotes a culture in which students are asked to focus constantly on their behavior through the prisms of caring, responsibility, teamwork, and effort. This story of the adoption of an older child told from the adoptee's perspective provides many excellent discussion points for our class to explore behavior and consequences. Milkweed is a publisher that I often consult for literature on important ethical issues for adolescents.

The main character, 12-year-old Andy, is continuously faced with making choices and many times opts for the convenience of the moment rather than the long-term benefits of deferred gratification. Much of his behavior is designed to manipulate people into giving him what he wants or avoiding responsibility. Andy's chief weapon in his social arsenal is lying. He knows the difference between right and wrong, which makes him very real to our age group, yet doesn't recognize that lying is destroying the potential for trust between himself and the people in his life.

It is Andy's insight into his actions that makes Parents Wanted especially effective for 9- to12-year-olds because they have an opportunity to evaluate: (1) Andy's behavior; (2) Andy's thought processes; and, (3) Andy's prospects for change.

I am aware that your reviewer found several shortcomings with the book. In my view, the adoption process from Andy's perspective was thoroughly outlined, the time line was [accurate], and the inclusion of the false sexual molestation charges by Andy against his adoptive father was the logical culmination of Andy's previous philosophy of 'no lie is too great,' until you're caught. Rather than lessening the powerful implications of sexual abuse, its inclusion here as an ultimate weapon should spark the most animated discussion of that issue among this age group.

I most heartily recommend Parents Wanted for its sensitive treatment of a young man who is articulate in learning about himself and knowing that he has to be the change that he wants in the world.

Richard Stafford, Teacher
Saltonstall School
Salem, MA

Mr. Stafford provides examples of ways teachers can use Parents Wanted in the classroom to spark discussion on sensitive topics such as attention deficit disorder, adoption, lying, and the consequences of one's behaviors; the issue of false accusation of sexual abuse is of particular significance in our society. However, on many levels, this book is not effective as a distinctive work of literature for young people. The plot develops slowly and the issue of the false accusation is flippant and unconvincing. While readers are exposed to Andy's inner thoughts and turmoil, as indicated in my review, and while his behavior changes by the end of the book, it may take a great deal of guided discussion for children to realize Andy's growth and eventual maturity. There are many intriguing elements in this story, but it fails to come together as a whole.

Shawn Brommer
Youth & Special Needs Coordinator
South Central Library System
Madison, WI

Have an Opinion on Library Issues? SLJ welcomes 700-word pieces for the column 'Make Your Point.' Past subjects have included overwhelmed librarians and the dubious benefits of computers. Interested in contributing? E-mail the editors at prx-slj@reedbusiness.com .

In our review of Jen Green's Myths of Ancient Greece and Brian Innes's Myths of Ancient Rome (Raintree/Steck Vaughn, 2001; Dec., p. 157), we noted that the table of contents for Greece appears in Rome and vice versa, based on the galley proofs. This error does not appear in the bound books.

The bibliographic information for Macbeth, which should have been part of the composite review listed under Anthony Masters in January, p. 144, is ISBN 0-19-521795-0.

Photographer Julie Kremen shot our February cover; the accompanying credit was incorrect.