Censorship or Information?

The Author

I am the author of Geography Club (HarperCollins, 2003), a teen novel that was recently banned at a school district in Washington State. I, along with some 35 fellow authors, recently founded an anti-censorship group called AS IF! (Authors Supporting Intellectual Freedom).

While fighting my own book ban, I was struck by the fact that advocates for the ban repeatedly referred to SLJ's review of Geography Club, which lists the book as being appropriate for “Grades 10 Up”; Booklist, meanwhile, lists it as appropriate for “Grades 7 Up.” Advocates of another recent ban (of Carolyn Mackler's The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things [Candlewick, 2003) also cited an SLJ review, which stated that that book is also appropriate for “Grades 10 Up.”

We at AS IF! are certainly aware of the question of age appropriateness, and we're not trying to second-guess your judgment in any way. But we did want to inquire as to whether you are aware that your reviews are being used in this way, to support the banning of books to eighth and ninth graders (which was the case with Geography Club; the “junior high” in question was only those two grades).

Regarding Geography Club, I think most media specialists would agree that the book is not appropriate for all seventh graders (and I would agree). But I know from experience that many media specialists enthusiastically welcome the book in eighth- and ninth-grade classrooms and libraries. However, supporters of book bannings have a strong argument when they can point to SLJ, a respected industry outlet, when it implies or states that a book is not appropriate for those grades.

Perhaps you are already aware of this issue, but we wanted to call your attention to it anyway. —Brent Hartinger, cofounder, AS IF!, Tacoma, WA

The Librarian

As a longtime reviewer for SLJ and a practicing school librarian, I would like to make a suggestion for all SLJ reviewers. I would like to see mention made in the reviews of crude language, obscenities, and sexual and adult situations when they appear in books for young adults and middle grade students. Some reviewers do this on a regular basis and it is much appreciated, but I would really like to see it as a policy for all reviews.

I recently purchased Nancy Mercado's Every Man for Himself: Ten Short Stories about Being a Guy (Dial, 2005) on the basis of an SLJ review that recommended it for grades 7 and up. One of the stories, “No More Birds Will Die Today” by Paul Acompora, contains numerous curse words that are completely gratuitous. “Strange Powers” by Craig Thompson is a graphic story with the same type of language and, in addition, shows boys urinating on another person's truck. These are just two examples from the book. There are other stories in the collection that are wonderful, but the ones that aren't ruin the entire book.

This book will not be added to my library's collection due to these problems. I would never have ordered it had I known the true nature of it. I am sorry that I wasted the cost of the book, especially based on a review from SLJ, which I've always trusted.

If librarians are to choose the best materials for their patrons based on reviews, they need for those reviews to be accurate descriptions of the item. I realize that language is often a device for developing a character, and that is an author's right, but when it is simply gratuitous, it is more annoying than purposeful. A statement informing librarians of situations or language that needs to be considered when selecting titles would be a great help. —Nancy Reeder, Heathwood Hall, Episcopal School, Columbia, SC

Our Book Review Editor Replies

There is no easy response to either letter, as both have well-reasoned and valid points. However, as sympathetic as we are to Mr. Hartinger's cause, we get far more feedback from middle school librarians who feel that they have gotten burned by an SLJ review and have had to pass a book on to the high school. Needless to say, this is less of an issue in public libraries as they serve a range of readers and the books are housed in one building regardless of the grade level assigned by any review publication.

Grade levels are suggested by our reviewers, who work with children and young adults in schools and public libraries and use the materials firsthand. We try to keep the grade levels as broad as possible, taking into account the reading level, the sophistication of the style, and the maturity required of most readers to relate to the situations. However, we are aware that they cannot be so broad as to leave our subscribers clueless as to the most appropriate audience. It's fairly obvious to us that some titles are more suitable for a high school collection than for middle schools; there's a big difference in maturity level among these students. The grade levels are never meant to be definitive or to be used to censor, but rather to suggest the best usage. If there is offensive language, sex, or other potentially problematic content in a book for grades 5–8, we would certainly mention it. But unless it's gratuitous or graphic, we're less likely to include mention of it in a novel for high school students. Many of these students read adults books as a matter of course.

Likewise, while we try to alert our readers to potential areas of controversy, we cannot second-guess every word or situation that might be problematic in any given school, and our reviews are meant to aid librarians who serve all types of readers. I offer the following quote from Elissa Webber, YA and children's librarian at the District of Columbia Public Library, about Patrick Jones's new book, Nailed (PW Bookshelf, 3/02/06):

“Another aspect of the book I was impressed with was the very realistic teen language; having the characters talk like teenagers really talk is a great way to get them to read.”

We grapple with this issue every month, and it's an ongoing discussion. We welcome our readers' thoughts and suggestions on how we can best serve you all. —Trev Jones, book review editor

Cover Controversies

I am disappointed in the cover topic of January's SLJ. I understand that there are some teens who consider themselves to be gay, but I don't think it is the place of the school library to promote that kind of lifestyle (just as I don't think it is the place of the school library to promote teenage heterosexual sex, either). I work in an elementary library, and the cover of the January issue precludes me from putting it on the magazine rack. —Esther Ball, media specialist, Garden City Elementary School, Garden City, GA

A Difference of Opinion

I wanted to correct some inaccurate information in SLJ's important January 2006 cover article, “Out and Ignored.”

Our district selection procedure and my role in facilitating that procedure is described by Jeff Blair, LMS at Olathe South High School in the following quote: “She can reject any book and she doesn't have to have a reason.”

In my role as library media coordinator, my responsibilities include maintaining and facilitating the materials selection database in accordance with the district's selection policy. In addition to building a collection that supports the curriculum, the selection policy invites building level LMS to individualize their collections based on instructional goals specific to their buildings. As in any selection policy, criteria for selection has been established and adopted by the Board of Education. I take my role in the process very seriously and, as a library professional, use the established criteria as a guide to add requests to the database.

On the day he received his January SLJ, Mr. Blair called me to apologize and asserted he was misquoted. Misquoting a source is certainly troubling. Also troubling is the fact that SLJ senior news and features editor, Debra Lau Whelan, did not check the facts. If she had, she would have realized that a library selection policy has been part of Olathe District Schools Board of Education policy since well before 1993. The policy and procedures do not call for any work on my part as a “censor” as Ms. Whelan indicates. Per your own editorial guidelines available at www.slj.com, information for the article should have been verified. Had Ms. Whelan contacted me, I would have been happy to provide her with accurate information for this important article. Of course, the accurate information would have done little to make any point about censorship. —Mary Ellen Grant, library media coordinator, Olathe District Schools, Olathe, KS

Computers as Book Selectors

What in the world was The Perks of Being a Wallflower doing in an elementary school library? And why are computer programs determining which books are selected and recommended for students?

A short article in the January Censorship Roundup discussed a “cautionary memo” written by School Superintendent Horne explaining that Perks, a book clearly written for and about high schoolers, had been “inappropriately labeled as reading for fourth graders” by Accelerated Reader.

Does anyone else have a problem with this? Two years ago, while visiting a neighborhood public elementary school, the school librarian showed me a bookcase full of new books. They came with a free trial computer program. In this pilot program, students read books at “their reading level” and if they answered computer questions correctly, they got points and could move on to the “next level.” The books were arranged by graded reading levels and they were all well-respected works of children's literature. However, when I looked at the shelves, I was highly alarmed to see many titles that were completely inappropriate for the grade level in which they were placed. The characters, issues, and conflicts just would not make sense to young elementary students—no matter what the word count or vocabulary might indicate.

There are many wonderful uses of technology, but using computer programs for selecting and recommending literature for young people needs to be looked at very carefully and critically. Perks belongs in a high school library or the young adult section of a public library. No librarian would recommend it to a fourth grader, and no “comprehension-assessment software” should either. —Laura Foner, children's librarian, Connolly Branch Library Jamaica Plain, MA

Libraries Don't Cater to Boys

The U.S. Department of Education reports that there are 135 women for every 100 men taking university courses and that the number of incarcerated males is almost equal to the number currently enrolled in university. Is no one taking the education of our young males seriously?

The children's book industry is dominated by the female perspective, and school libraries continue to be overloaded with books for young girls.

If the book industry and librarians fail to understand the young male psyche and fail to encourage them to read more, then our society is headed for serious trouble. Will we soon be hiring half the country's males to police the other half who are unemployable and causing trouble?

Hoping that fathers will, en masse, start purchasing books for their sons is a non-starter. It's not in their genes to nurture like that. No, this crisis has to be solved by females. Just as male educators “saw the light” and began encouraging females in education years ago, now females must make the effort to understand the reading needs of young males.

As librarians, why not ask them what they prefer to read and then provide it? If you don't understand young males' interests, then admit it and let others choose books for you. Whatever you do, do not carry on stocking libraries as you have in the past.

What am I doing? I'm trying to bring back action comic books for boys. Today's comics are high-vocabulary collectables for adults. We need to bring back the masses of cheap, easy-to-read comics that I bought with pocket change as a young male in the '50s.

It's not too late to repair the damage done. —Ray Nicolle, retired early reading specialist, Vancouver, Canada