T.J. Baker is coming down the street towards her, wearing ragged blue jeans, boots, and an white T-shirt--and his face is the face of an angel in a painting Noli saw once in a museum.
Opening to Whistle Me Home by Barbara Wersba
This post may get me into trouble.
I support the intention of Banned Books Week. Even people trying to remove or restrict access to certain books oppose "banning books." However, I believe the issue is too complicated to reduce to a simple slogan, certainly when talking about books for children and young adults.
What it's really about is where to draw the line between what is acceptable and what is not. Everyone draws this line somewhere. Certain things are pornographic or dangerous and therefore not acceptable for school libraries. Would you allow a school library to display the Hemlock Society's book Final Exit which gives detailed instructions on ending one's life? What about The Anarchist Cookbook which describes how to build bombs?
A common response to book banning goes along the line of "that's how it is in the real world so it should be okay to include in books." Sometimes I feel that I am alone in the belief that a classroom should be a shelter from the real world. There are many things in the real world, many words used, that I do not allow in my classroom. Why should I allow them in the books I bring into my classroom?
A common response to book banning goes along the line of "that's how it is in the real world so it should be okay to include in books." Sometimes I feel that I am alone in the belief that a classroom should be a shelter from the real world. There are many things in the real world, many words used, that I do not allow in my classroom. Why should I allow them in the books I bring into my classroom?
My position is that there should be a good answer to that question. That's where I draw the line.
I have many banned books in my classroom: The Sledding Hill, Bridge to Terabithia, The Call of the Wild, The Chocolate War, A Day No Pigs Would Die, The Giver, The Great Gilly Hopkins, How to Eat Fried Worms, Julie of the Wolves, The Lord of the Flies, The Outsiders, The Pigman, Whale Talk, A Wrinkle in Time. I'll stand before any court in the land and defend the classroom use of these books.
Others, not so much.
All English and reading teachers make this decision. All librarians do, too. Failure to consider how appropriate a book is for the children we serve borders on malpractice. Libraries and schools all have policies in place, quidelines to follow when selecting books as well as procedures to follow when books are challenged. But in the end, it's a decision that must be made book by book.
All English and reading teachers make this decision. All librarians do, too. Failure to consider how appropriate a book is for the children we serve borders on malpractice. Libraries and schools all have policies in place, quidelines to follow when selecting books as well as procedures to follow when books are challenged. But in the end, it's a decision that must be made book by book.
I found Whistle Me Home by Barbara Wersba at my local library as part of their Banned Books Week display. Whistle Me Home is about Noli, a high school student who has fallen in love with T.J. the new boy at school. Noli dresses like a boy, walks and acts in non-feminine manner, and does not consider herself beautiful. T.J. is an Adonis. The perfect boy in every way. That he is interested in her, shocks T.J. as much as everyone else. That he turns out to be gay will come as no surprise to any but the most naive reader. T.J. likes poetry. He goes to old movies. He never makes a move on Noli. Once Noli discovers T.J.'s secret she slips into alchohal abuse endangering her chance to graduate high school. With the help of Alcoholics Anonymous, she is able to put her life back together and to come to grips with the sexual assault she experienced as a child that is the reason why she dresses the way she does.
There's a lot to object to in Whistle Me Home. Is there enough to praise to justify keeping it on the shelves of school and public libraries? Public and high school libraries, yes. It's my belief that public libraries should have the widest possible range of material available, even books like Final Exit and The Anarchist Cookbook, and I think sheltering high school students from the issues in Young Adult fiction is inadvisable. If high school students are old enough to face the death penalty, they're old enough to read YA novels.
Middle school, I'm not so sure. There's nothing in the book that makes me want to prevent 7th and 8th graders from reading it, though it might lead to some conversations their parents are not ready for yet. But 6th graders are still little kids. While I doubt any sixth grader would pick up a book with this cover on it, I do think some of the subject matter is too mature for them. Final answer--I would not approve Whistle Me Home for classroom use in a middle school, but I would allow it in the school library.
Middle school, I'm not so sure. There's nothing in the book that makes me want to prevent 7th and 8th graders from reading it, though it might lead to some conversations their parents are not ready for yet. But 6th graders are still little kids. While I doubt any sixth grader would pick up a book with this cover on it, I do think some of the subject matter is too mature for them. Final answer--I would not approve Whistle Me Home for classroom use in a middle school, but I would allow it in the school library.
In fact, I'd stand before any court in the land and defend it.
6 comments:
Hi CB - I guess before I start sharing my opinion, I'm curious about why you would think this book is objectionable for MS students? Is it the alcohol abuse? The implication of someone "coming out"?
If those were the two crises that would concern you, I'd probably have it on my bookshelf. As of now, I have most of Julie Ann Peters there. I have Smack by Melvin Burgess (subject matter: heroin), Cut by Patricia McCormick (subject matter: self abuse; cutting); the various "anon" books: It Happened To Nancy (where a teenage girl has sex for the first time and gets HIV), etc. All of these subject matters are extremely controversial. Most are in our school library so I feel very little stress defending them in my classroom.
But why are they there? After all, I also teach middle school. Perhaps we have a difference of opinion for the books on our shelves because of the type of middle school? I believe that books should be both forms of escapism and cathartic. The middle school I'm at is Title I, primarily hispanic, and less than 40% are on grade level. Although we have seventh graders who are 12 going on 13, we also have seventh graders who are 15 going on 16. We have some who go home to a family, but we have just as many who go home to a house void of adults only to babysit their three or four other siblings. They are in gangs, their families are in gangs. They go to church every Sunday.
Some of the books I have on my shelves reflect their lives. Of course there many who are "normal" tweens with a "normal" family life. But overall, even in the "normal" situations, our families are not terribly involved in academics.
Would my position be any different if I was in a completely opposite school environment? Who knows. But right now, I still stand behind the young adult books that have been banned in my classroom. Most of the books are not banned because of gratuitous sex or language. They have a point to their mayhem. Finally, I don't believe books hurt; rather, it's ignorance that causes the destruction.
I will now step down from my stool. :)
Hi CB, I understand the desire to protect children from what they cannot yet fully understand, but when it comes to books, like you said: where you you draw the line? I for one would prefer a full disclosure than any type of banning - it doesn't really give parents and teachers a choice.
Anywhoo, my argumentative skills are not up for this discussion, but if you have time, take a look at the link below. It's from a librarian's blog, I don't know if you've hear of him, and he's responding to a request for banning a book called "Uncle Bobby's Wedding". The story is about gay marriage and targeted at 4-8 year-old.
It's an amazing post, hope you enjoy it: http://jaslarue.blogspot.com/2008/07/uncle-bobbys-wedding.htm
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I left my first teaching job, and "ran-away" to Georgia after a year-long, state-wide battle over my right to teach The Chocolate War to the freshmen of Missouri high school. My department chair supported my right to teach it and parents, after receiving information regarding its use in the classroom, could determine if they felt it appropriate for their child and if they did not, another option was given. All was fine until a fellow teacher raised an objection that became an issue of debate for the local school board, that I eventually won.
This being said, my son, who is only 8, reads at a 6th grade level. He is obviously not ready for the topics present in most literature of that level. I would be concerned if he was reading such content without my prior knowledge and consent.
So I guess my point is that consideration needs to be given to age appropriate content and understanding.
Well, you certainly won't get in trouble with me for this post! In fact, I applaud you for it! What you say here makes a whole lot of sense, although I can't speak to the book in question. Of course as a teacher you have a responsibility to select the books you think are most appropriate to the students in your classroom, with selection sometimes comes the flip side--rejection.
As much as I support the intention behind Banned Books Week, there is a strand to the discussion that seems to suggest that any decision not to make a book available is wrong. I find that strand to be almost as disturbing as some people's misguided efforts to remove certain books. Public libraries and school libraries are different animals, with different standards. School libraries and classroom curricula are also different. Not every book is suitable for every setting. Is to say that to be a "book banner"? I don't think so, but sometimes it sounds like others do.
Wow, here is a different dimension on banning books. I am glad I read it. You make many good points and I think you are right on many accounts. Thinking about it, I am not sure if I will be comfortable enough to give this book to my baby if he was in Middle School. He would be just a kid, and I am not sure he will be mature for it too!
I really think your statement that - If high school students are old enough to face the death penalty, they're old enough to read YA novels. - is so true!
As a parent, I really have to be comfortable enough to discuss a book with my baby at any age and that is what I think is important to me!
You know, I think you are absolutely right that teachers and librarians have to decide what is appropriate to put in their schools. I don't consider teachers and librarians at middle schools not stocking books as banning books though, that is simply stocking appropriate material.
I draw the lines at parents trying to ban books, as it is teachers and librarians who know the kids, know what is being taught, and should be making these calls. Or banning books just because, for example, there is homosexuality or questions about religion. Some books are inappropriate for younger readers, but most of what they want to bad is not. And high school libraries and public libraries should have these titles, even if they aren't appropriate for younger students.
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