Letters

Correction: In the article “Have Your Fingers Ready for Check Out” (August 2005, p. 26), Mr. West’s first name and the location of Naperville Public Library are identified incorrectly. Mr. West’s first name is Mark and the library is in Illinois, not Ohio.

School Library Journal welcomes letters up to 300 words. They may be edited for clarity and length. Please include a daytime telephone number. Write to the Editor, School Library Journal, 360 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010; fax (646) 746-6689; or e-mail slj@reedbusiness.com.

Homeschoolers and public libraries are a perfect combination

Many thanks to Kathryn Slattery for her feature on homeschooling and libraries (August 2005, p. 44). I am a former medical librarian, now a full-time faculty member at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies and teaching in our LIS degree program. My husband and I, both holding MLIS degrees, have just begun our fourth year of homeschooling our 11-year-old son. In New York State, which has the most onerous regulations in the country, homeschoolers have no access to school resources—including libraries and textbook lists—which means that many homeschooling families are frequent library patrons. We are very lucky to have a supportive public library branch near us, but it’s been perplexing to me why public libraries haven’t paid more attention to this customer base. I applaud Ms. Slattery’s attempt to publicize the natural fit between homeschooling and libraries and hope that she’s changed a few mindsets with this article.

Catherine Arnott Smith, PhD
Assistant Professor
School of Information Studies
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY

I was disappointed in the response given by copyright specialist Carrie Russell to a reader’s question in “Carrie on Copyright” (August 2005, p. 30).

Librarian Lizanne Wallace asked about videotaping “TV programs, such as 'Cable in the Classroom’ programs and film versions of books that are being read in the classroom.”

In her answer, Ms. Russell only speaks to copyright rules under the fair-use guidelines and does not address Cable in the Classroom programs. You should know that Cable in the Classroom programs have significantly greater copyright clearances for educators—at least one year and often much longer. An overview of our copyright policies can be found at www.ciconline.org/Resources/copyright.htm, including how to find copyright clearances for a specific program.

Ms. Russell’s incomplete response may inhibit other educators from using this free resource.

Cable in the Classroom is the education foundation of the cable telecommunications industry. Local cable companies and national cable networks provide free access to cable technologies, multimedia resources and commercial-free educational programming with extended copyright clearances to schools all over the country.

Frank Gallagher
Assistant Director, Education
Cable in the Classroom
Washington, DC

I just read Steev Baker’s SLJ review of David Okum’s Superhero Madness (Impact Books, 2004; March, p. 238) on Amazon.com and noticed that it incorrectly states that the final drawing of each step-by-step exercise is completed by computer. In fact, each superhero character is finished in colored pencil and accompanied by an additional computer-finished drawing. There are only a few exercises of vehicles and settings that are finished by computer only. (I am keenly aware of this because I was the editor of the book.) Mr. Baker is entitled to his opinion, but as he is sharing his views with countless potential book buyers, it’s important to not mislead them with an inaccurate description of the book’s contents.

Stefanie Laufersweiler
Impact Books
Cincinnati, OH

While Kathleen Isaacs brings up interesting points in her article, “Truth in Information Books” (July 2005, p. 28), her statement that some of my facts are “simply wrong” in my book, Escape From Saigon: How a Vietnam War Orphan Became an American Boy (Farrar, 2004) is not true. What seems to be true is that I have clearly irritated Ms. Isaacs and members of her family.

I wrote that Matt Steiner’s departure on April 5, 1975 took place under “danger from incoming fire.” Enemy soldiers were nearby and because of their random firing at the airport, commercial flights no longer dared land at the airport. I did not say there was shelling of the airport that day—and indeed there was not—although Ms. Isaacs implies that I did say this.

As she states, I did interview her sister-in-law and nephew while working on an early, experimental draft of the book. However, because the book is told from Matt Steiner’s point of view and their memories differed from Matt’s, I chose to relate what he remembered.

Finally, Ms. Isaacs states that I could have interviewed her husband for an accurate accounting of the story of “Lan,” who escaped the chaotic situation in Saigon with his help and that of others. At the time I interviewed Lan, she was very firm in her insistence that I do whatever I could to disguise her identity. She plans to return to Vietnam as a volunteer, and had considerable and well-founded fears of reprisal from Vietnamese authorities should her identity be discovered. I went through several drafts with her, changing details that did nothing to destroy the integrity of her story, until she was comfortable with it and gave me permission to use it. Thus, a large aircraft became a small one. The point of pickup was changed, as were other facts that she felt could lead to her identity. In the afterword of the book, I do state that the identities of Lan and another individual have been disguised both to protect them and to respect their privacy.

I found in writing about Operation Babylift and the end of the Vietnam War that many interviewees were nervous about sharing their personal stories. Jack Mandelbaum, the central character in my book Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps told me that had I approached him 30 years ago to do this book, he would have declined, that it was too “soon” to share such horror, too soon to name names and retell incidents, but that now he was ready. Perhaps in another 30 years, survivors of the Vietnam War will feel the same way. Until then, historians and writers must struggle to present the truth without putting subjects in harm’s way.

Andrea Warren
Prairie Village, KS

Andrea Warren says that my statement that some of her facts are wrong is not true. She also says that she changed many details. That confirms that her facts were wrong. In the book she told readers she had disguised identities; she didn’t tell readers she had changed their stories. Warren’s letter repeats one inaccuracy: that commercial flights no longer dared land at the airport by April 5. But David Butler, whose book she lists as a source for her information, states that the last Pan Am flight to Saigon arrived Tuesday April 22 (The Fall of Saigon, p. 359). Escape from Saigon is an important story and is movingly told. But perhaps it would have been better to present it as fiction. Writers of informational books for children need to be scrupulously careful about accuracy, just as writers for adults do.

Kathleen Isaacs
Pasadena, MD

Miranda and William Hunter’s Taking Responsibility: A Teen’s Guide to Contraception and Pregnancy (Mason Crest, 2005; July, p. 119) devotes an entire chapter to the issue of abstinence. The author clearly and accurately presents the facts (namely, that abstinence is the only 100 percent “safe” method of birth control)—but then goes on to offer teens real-world information about contraception. The tone is matter of fact without being moralistic, covering the range of choices (and their consequences) that face young adults today.

In the second half of the book, the authors address pregnancy as a real-life consequence to sexual activity. The role of the father is discussed; unfortunately, statistics indicate that by far the majority of teen girls face pregnancy without the support of their sexual partners. Again, the book presents a real-world perspective that encourages ideal behavior while presenting a nonjudgmental discussion of the situations facing many teens today. The book is informative and engaging, answering many of teens’ most urgent questions in a factual and sympathetic way.

Staying Safe: A Teen’s Guide to Sexually Transmitted Diseases handles a heavy topic with a conversational tone that will appeal to teenagers. Scenarios that alternate between males and females present the typical situations facing many adolescents today. Boys and girls are presented as being equally at risk of developing an STD, and the risks of sexual activity are fully explained in a nonjudgmental manner. A full range of STDs is accurately described, and the myths that circulate about these diseases are clearly exposed. Young adults will gain vital information that will help them make wise decisions as they become sexually mature.

Mary Ann McDonnell, APRN, BC
Massachusetts General/Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA

In my original review I had stated “Some areas that were found to be lacking, or not covered at all were: effectiveness of various methods of contraception, abstinence as a method of birth control, and childbirth classes.” This is converted in the published review as: “Some surprising omissions include the effectiveness of various methods of contraception, abstinence as a method of birth control, and childbirth classes.”

The letter to the editor is correct that there is a chapter on abstinence, but I stand behind my wording that the information about abstinence is lacking in the sense that it could be presented in a stronger manner, perhaps through the organization of the text.

While Staying Safe presents both male and female teens engaging in unsafe sexual acts and both genders encounter sexually transmitted diseases, there is a subtle gender bias in the reactions of those who contract a sexually transmitted disease from a partner. In one story, Brett contracts an STD from his female partner. Even though it is clear that she had this disease from sexual relationships prior to dating Brett, he decides to end the relationship. Yet, in two cases presented in the book, females contract STDs from their partners. In one case, it is suggested that the boyfriend may be cheating, but in neither case does it overtly state that this will end the relationship. In a subtle way, this book perpetuates the stereotype that it is a bad thing for females to be sexually active and they should be punished for their misbehavior, but the same is not true for males.

Wendy M. Smith, Ph. D
Professor in Reading Education
Loyola College
Baltimore, MD