Blue Springs, Mo Parents Upset Over Reading List

[MaryH]

This was in our News today. Remember: we are in the middle of the Bible Belt. This is what happens when the Religious Right gets control.

A group of parents has asked the Blue Springs school board to remove the award-winning book, "The Giver," from student reading lists, saying it contains "negative" themes.

The district has included the book, written by Lois Lowry, on its suggested reading lists for eighth graders for almost eight years without incident.

snip

The book has won a dozen awards, including the presitgious Newbury Medal for children's literature in 1994. But it also is one of the top 25 most challenged books.

snip

"This book is negative," said Cerise Ivey, one of five parents who have fought the book's inclusion on student reading lists since the fall of 2003. "I read it. I don't see the academic value in it. Everything presented to the kids should be positive or historical, not negative."

So - let the craziness begin (my words)

[annabanana]

1. What, exactly, are they objecting to?

I've never read it..(They would probably object to the Lemony Snicket books too...they are "dark")

[MaryH]

6. The KC Star this morning said they thought the book had

lewd stuff in it. I haven't read it. One person said the book is about "death." Don't want the kids to think about all that bad stuff.

[KansDem]

12. About "death?" Damn, and I just read "Brighty of the Grand Canyon..."

to my 6-year old!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D0689714858/104-7220399-7252768

Grade 3-6-Marguerite Henry's book (Rand McNally, 1953) is based on actual incidents in the life of a Grand Canyon burro. Brighty loves his life of independence along the Bright Angel Creek for which he was named, going to the rim in the summer and down to the canyon floor in winter. He is present as President Theodore Roosevelt discusses the beauty and grandeur of the Canyon and how it should be preserved for the American people. Brighty is the first to walk the historic bridge connecting the north and south rims. Befriended by prospectors, government men and campers, Brighty alternately helps his friends and runs free as the spirit moves him. His friend and companion, Old Timer, a prospector, is murdered by a claim jumper. A saddened Brighty searches for the killer, an adventure which runs through the book. John McDonough reads with a sonorous voice which compels careful listening. He brings the characters to life for listeners. This unabridged retelling will fill children's minds with the sights, sounds, and smells of the grand Canyon in the early 1900's.
Carol Robison, Colby Public School, KS

What COULD I have been thinking...???

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. more info on this book

This book is a Newbery Award winner. That means the year it was published it was chosen as the best children’s book of the year. Here is a synopsis I found:

The society we find there seems ideal. Everyone has a job for which he or she is suited emotionally, physically and mentally. The elderly are lovingly cared for as are the newest members of this place. Every family has a mother, father, and two children, one of each sex. There is much laughter and obvious joy. There is no rudeness, no crime and no disease.

We see it all through the eyes of Jonas, a young boy about to receive his life's assignment along with others of his age group. To his astonishment he is given the most respected job of all. He is to be trained to become the "Receiver of Memory". You see, in the Utopian society Lowry has created for us, the people don't want to be burdened with memories. However, they also don't want to make decisions or changes which, in the past, have led to disaster so they have assigned one person to keep all the memories of history, their own and that of all societies.

The Receiver's job is to listen to their proposals and just tell them whether or not they should do it based on the lessons of history. The present Receiver now sets about giving the memories- all of them - to Jonas. He does so through all of the senses. Jonas learns of war and hate, of snow and trees and colors.. all of which are not present in this society. He also learns of the horror all around him.

http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/giver.html

Here is another synopsis:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/giver/summary.html

And here is a list of Newbery winners going back to 1960:

2004: The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick Press) 
2003: Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi (Hyperion Books for Children) 
2002: A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park(Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin) 
2001: A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck (Dial) 
2000: Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (Delacorte) 
1999: Holes by Louis Sachar (Frances Foster) 
1998: Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (Scholastic) 
1997: The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg (Jean Karl/Atheneum)
1996: The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman (Clarion)
1995: Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (HarperCollins)
1994: The Giver by Lois Lowry(Houghton)
1993: Missing May by Cynthia Rylant (Jackson/Orchard)
1992: Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Atheneum)
1991: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (Little, Brown)
1990: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (Houghton)
1989: Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman (Harper)
1988: Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman (Clarion)
1987: The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman (Greenwillow)
1986: Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (Harper)
1985: The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (Greenwillow)
1984: Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary (Morrow)
1983: Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt (Atheneum)
1982: A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nancy Willard (Harcourt)
1981: Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson (Crowell)
1980: A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-1832 by Joan W. Blos (Scribner)
1979: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (Dutton)
1978: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (Crowell)
1977: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (Dial)
1976: The Grey King by Susan Cooper (McElderry/Atheneum)
1975: M. C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton (Macmillan)
1974: The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox (Bradbury)
1973: Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (Harper)
1972: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien (Atheneum)
1971: Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars (Viking)
1970: Sounder by William H. Armstrong (Harper)
1969: The High King by Lloyd Alexander (Holt)
1968: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (Atheneum)
1967: Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt (Follett)
1966: I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino (Farrar)
1965: Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska (Atheneum)
1964: It's Like This, Cat by Emily Neville (Harper)
1963: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (Farrar)
1962: The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare (Houghton)
1961: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (Houghton)
1960: Onion John by Joseph Krumgold (Crowell)

http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/newberymedal/newberywinners/medalwinners.htm

[annabanana]

13. No WONDER they object!

It clearly might give kids the unsettling notion that things are not always as they seem. And that what is being presented as "ideal" doesn't always live up the the hype.

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. Goes against the neocon way of thinking

that's for sure.

[Orangepeel]

22. sounds like "Brave New World" for kids (n/t)

[davidinalameda]

2. positive or historical?

so much for preparing them for the real world

[Book Lover]

3. Link? (nm)

[MaryH]

7. There was a long article in the KC Star today on this topic but

I couldn't pull it.

Am trying to get the rest of the books on the 25 Challenged Book List

Some old time favorite banned books are still on it like

Huck Finn

Of Mice and Men

I'll see if I can find the rest.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Check out my post #10

I listed past Newbery winners

[Book Lover]

14. I found it

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/10575220.htm?1c

[Feathered Fish]

4. She wouldn't find academic value in much

Everything presented to the kids should be positive or historical, not negative.

This woman lives under a rock. I'm sorry you have to put up with that.

[RPM]

5. which is the bible? historical or positive?

Or neither? :-)

[Jacobin]

8. uhm, kinda negative, to me.

at least a lot of it is

Guess these parents think an education is filling everyone's head with ALL HAPPY THOUGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

they Can Get a Bachelor's of Mary Poppins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And work at Disney World SMILING nonstop like blithering idiots~~~

[RPM]

9. yep - i'm with you

either historical disinformation or the opiate of positivity; throw in some pharmaceuticals and we will all be like the guy on the enzyte ad with a boner and a smile.

[KansDem]

16. "Happy Thoughts" beget Happy Meals™ beget "Happy Thoughts" beget...

Happy Meals™ beget...

Well, you get the picture!


I'm happy! How 'bout you??!!!

[Jesus H. Christ]

15. The Giver.

I'd assign it to my kids. Wonderful book.

Notice how all the bad customer reviews come from people who are functionally illiterate.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0440237688/qid=1105052686/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-6305700-1900866?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[MuseRider]

17. I read it to my kids

and they then read it in school. Then we got the book on tape. My kids loved it and so did I.

[Orangepeel]

24. some of these reviews have to be sarcastic

sorting by "lowest first," two of the earliest "kid's reviews" say:

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone because it made me think. I like books that tell you what is happening, not books that make you figure that out.

IT IS ABOUT A KID NAMED JONAS AND AN OLD GUY WHO GIVES JONAS BAD MEMORIES. THE ENDING IS SO WEIRD. THE BOOK MAKES YOU THINK TOO HARD. IT IS BAD.

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. fundie juniors n/t

[Spacemom]

36. Thinking is bad, We will think for you, Move along, Thinking is bad....eom

[Orangepeel]

25. .

.

[Nevernose]

33. These reviews were a school assignment

Notice how so many of the reviews came in the last week before Christmas break, specifically on December 16? I've read more than my fair share of secondary students' book reviews, and these reviews reek of ninth graders.

Good idea for a lesson, though...

[Jesus H. Christ]

34. Some are obviously kids.

Many, I'm sure, are less than obvious freepers.

[MisterP]

18. links on the Internets

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/10575220.htm

[CornField]

19. I've never understood the conservative objections to this book

The lead character, Jonas, age 12, says: "We don't dare to let people make choices of their own. ... We really have to protect people from wrong choices."

While the book does deal with some dark topics, the basic premise is the keeping of those darker topics from the general population. (infanticide, euthanasia, suicide, etc.)

[American Tragedy]

20. I think you've just answered your own query.

[loudestchick]

21. I think you understand the objection perfectly.

The book points out the dangers inherrent in being sheep. The dangers of using euphemistic language to hide from difficult/painful subjects..ie the euthanazia practiced on the "weak" of all varieties in the book is called "releasing them"...the truth strikes Jonas with horror and disbelief.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

23. Honestly, I can't even care anymore about book banners.......

....most of these people can't read anyway.......

[proud2BlibKansan]

28. You should care

these are the same people getting rid of evolution in our biology curiculum.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

29. Again....

....most of them are too stupid to comprehend basic biology.

[proud2BlibKansan]

30. All the more reason

they need to learn about evolution instead of some stupid fundie theory

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

32. Excuse my sarcasm.........

....you have to understand how I'm tired of having to deal with stupid people. I'm tired of the neo-con pundits chirping how I have to embrace and understand ignorant people who they themselves have complete contempt for, but accept because they vote red.

[proud2BlibKansan]

35. Oh I understand

but I am a teacher so I can't decide I am tired of educating anyone - ever.

[bleedingheart]

31. Beware those that would ban books as well as those who burn them

because as one individual stated...

"Where one burns books, one will soon burn people."
--Heinrich Heine

[MSgt213]

37. What did you do doing the war mommy? I protested negative books