More Children’s Books Woes
Submitted by mwilliams on Sun, 2007-10-07 20:04.A military parent is fighting to have the book Tripping Over the Lunch Lady banned from her children’s school library because she feels it’s insensitive toward military children due to the “graphic references to war, bombs and soldier casualties”. What say you? Is there any merit to this one?
If you had a Wordsy account you could comment on this story. Get an account now!
Are children of politicians going to be protected too? And children of ministers? And children of holocaust victims? And descendents of executed Russian aristocrats?
Good point. I was shocked more by the comments on the story than the story itself. People are seriously upset by this...I guess because it touches on the sensitive issue of the present war. The whole thing degenerated into name calling to the point where the sensible voices were lost in the melee. At one point Trieber herself commented to clarify that the issue wasn't about banning the book, but about making a book that the publishers had deemed suitable only for higher grades available for the younger children. Alas, they called her a fat cow and went on with their own war. How can anything be resolved when such mentality is so prevalent?
There is no thief like a bad book
--Italian Proverb
lol, how very grown up..
And thes people are the ones who think they are the best to know what children are grown up to read or not.
Not to be self promoting but I have just published a book guiding children into the dark side of existence
The Mouse in the House . I think that as painful as death is, and facing the deaths in my own family were painful, that children who must deal with that loss should have some recourse to venting their confusion mentally as well as physically. Reading is a mental exercise which I hightly recommend. http://outskirtspress.com/TheMouseInTheHouse
People die in wars. Millions of Iraqi are displaced due the war the US brought to their doorsteps. Now should we lie to kids and say everything's nice and dandy when they will have to clean up the mess of earlier generations?
I think it's generally a problem that the generation of my parents get to decide what will affect the future of those of my generation and our children. Younger people, age 20 - 35 must have more of a say in decisions that will affect them the most and even their kids must, when they're old enough, learn the grim truth of the shit they've been given by their ancestors.
I agree, but how old is old enough? The publishers of the books said it was suitable for fifth to seventh grade students, while the school officials suggested it for grade kindergarten through grade five. How old does a child have to be to be able to deal rationally with such a subject, do you think? Some people feel children should be alowed to be children, for a little while at least.
There is no thief like a bad book
--Italian Proverb