Censorship rears its ugly head. Sort-of. *SIGH*

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
And now you've grown up into someone who quotes "The Lion In Winter" on a chicken forum!

Well done, I say!

 

[Javamama]

We are running into the same problem. My son is in 5th grade and tested gifted in reading and goes through books soooo fast, but when he goes to the library they won't let him check out books he is interested in. Last week he wanted Harry Potter #4 (whichever one that is) because that was the only one checked in at the time and the librarian wouldn't let him have it because she said he needed to read them in order. Well, last year he read all but that one. Who very cares if they are read in order? He has seen the movies and reads the books as he gets access to them. Needless to say we went and got it from the public library. I feel like saying "up yours, librarian" I'm sure it's going to be this way for every other series he gets interested in. I guess I'm going to have to tell him to lie to the librarian.
If I had the patience for homeschooling I would do it. At the very least I can say my kids will be out of this school district by Jr. High one way or another.
I haven't read through the entire thread yet, but I am totally interested in any book recommendations - there isn't much out there for a 9 year old boy. There's books that are either too juvenile or way above his head.

 

[chickiebaby]

Anything by Joan Aiken or Lloyd Alexander. That's about fifty books rght there, all fabulous. My lil contribution for the letter A!

 

[Katy]

Ok...I've bit my tongue as long as I can. I have a real problem with a mother who is so flip about letting her 5th grader read material with sex scenes in it whether they're graphic or not. Yes, sex happens in real life, but that doesn't mean a 5th grader is mature enough to handle reading about it or viewing it. I had a very open and honest relationship with my kids too growing up but that doesn't mean I didn't watch what they did or were exposed to. I'm sure you'll have a very defensive response to my post, but that's ok. As I said in a previous post, just because they're old enough to read the words doesn't mean it's ok that they're allowed to.

PS I have 2 grandsons 10 & 8 and I'd tell their folks the same thing that I said to you.

 

[warcard]

Has he tried Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series? (talk about thick , the whole series might keep him occupied for a couple weeks

) Just be prepared to not have an end to the story since the man had the audacity to die before finishing.

Although I've heard rumors that he was almost finished and they might publish what they have.

I will guess he has read Tolkien? Did he include the new background that was put out after his death? Simillaron, don't know if I spelled that correctly.

How about Dune, Herbert's son and Paul Anderson recently added some new novels.

Sorry, you opened a can of worms with this read-a-holic.

Oh yeah, and Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear series, some interesting historical and palentological information there.

Terry Brooks - Shannara Series, Robert Fiest - Magician (and all its spin-offs), David Brin - Uplift Series, Piers Anthony - anything about Xanth, so phunny, but also life education

AAHHH, I better

before you

 

[luvmychicknkids]

Quote:
I have many more wonderful post I would like to respond to right now, but I have very little time and THIS deserves a response. I will not sit back while some stranger calls me "flip about what my child reads". I pay attention to everything he watches and reads and the single most graphic images the child ever sees are from my chickens an turtles mating....and believe me, they are not shy about it. I am happy to sit with him and talk about why and how people have sex and that one day, far in the future, he will too. Their are kids at his school going around talking about the latest porn site they looked at on mom's computer and tons of false information (frightening information) is floating around. I love having my son come to me and say "hey, whay would someone do this" rather than talk to one of those kids at school. Yeah, 5th grade is plenty early. There are girls barely older than him out there pregnant. My son knows the hows and the whys and also knows the hows and whys of waiting and being in a secure relationship. That is far better than a lot of parents out there and I will not sit back and listen to insults becasue you would do it different.

And one more thing. When I was not much older than him I used to go buy the trashiest novels I could find. My friends and I would sit in a circle and I would read the dirtiest parts out loud. OMG.....this is stuff I would not dream of letting my child read for a very long time. I am fine. I also had NO ONE to talk to about any of it. He does and as I said, he would NEVER be allowed to read the stuff I did. I am certain my child will be just fine.

 

[WriterofWords]

I didn't read all the posts but let me check in as a teacher. At times students are not allowed to check out a book because of the maturity level of the content, not because of the level they are able to read. Subjects that are fine for a 6th grader might not be fine for a 1st grader even if the child is able to read and understand what he or she is reading.
I dealt with this with my son since he was an advanced reader and I had to explain to him that not being able to check out certain books had nothing to do with his ability to read, it had to do with the content of the book.

In the sixth grade section of our library we have a lot of more advanced science books with graphic pictures of animals eating other animals, killing their prey etc. One of our 2nd grade teachers allowed an advanced reader to check out one of our books and she ended up with an irate parent in her class because her 2nd grader was now having nightmares about lions catching, killing, and eating, a gazelle. Yes the child could read it, but should she have? No, she was not mature enough to handle the content.

Please understand that at times, the librarian needs to say no, it is nothing against the child, it is protection of the child.

My 11th grade son just started that Twilight series you mentioned the author of. I'm not impressed with it and the scenes in it at all. We've discussed it and he's mature enough and I trust him, but I don't have to like it.

I get angry parents all the time because their child brings home low books, because that is all they are capable of reading and understanding. They got to this grade with this score how? In our district the students are required to read for 30 minutes every day with a family member and bring in a signed log that shows they are working on it. It's the ones who don't help who complain the loudest here, it drives me buggy!

 

[ninjapoodles]

I posted my thoughts on scholastic and parental responsibility as regards appropriate reading material for children in this post last year (and hey, it's not long until Banned Book Week again!), and included a letter from Pat Conroy that he wrote to the editor of a newspaper upon learning that his novel "Beach Music" had been banned from a high school reading list.

Here's the post, if you're interested .

 

[Wildsky]

Its very difficult, as I said previously - luckily my son is BORED or not interested in teenage books, a good thing, but there are just NOT enough books for his level reading for his age either - I just hope there are more books in the works like harry potter (even though I've not read those, my son does point out that there are BAD WORDS in those as well)

 

[Katy]

Quote:
I have many more wonderful post I would like to respond to right now, but I have very little time and THIS deserves a response. I will not sit back while some stranger calls me "flip about what my child reads". I pay attention to everything he watches and reads and the single most graphic images the child ever sees are from my chickens an turtles mating....and believe me, they are not shy about it. I am happy to sit with him and talk about why and how people have sex and that one day, far in the future, he will too. Their are kids at his school going around talking about the latest porn site they looked at on mom's computer and tons of false information (frightening information) is floating around. I love having my son come to me and say "hey, whay would someone do this" rather than talk to one of those kids at school. Yeah, 5th grade is plenty early. There are girls barely older than him out there pregnant. My son knows the hows and the whys and also knows the hows and whys of waiting and being in a secure relationship. That is far better than a lot of parents out there and I will not sit back and listen to insults becasue you would do it different.

And one more thing. When I was not much older than him I used to go buy the trashiest novels I could find. My friends and I would sit in a circle and I would read the dirtiest parts out loud. OMG.....this is stuff I would not dream of letting my child read for a very long time. I am fine. I also had NO ONE to talk to about any of it. He does and as I said, he would NEVER be allowed to read the stuff I did. I am certain my child will be just fine.

Your response to me was exactly as I knew it would be which why I almost didn't post. I do think you were flip about posting that you don't have problem with him reading books with sex scenes.....almost as tho you're proud of your open mindedness. I have a very open mind...always have. My kids and I also talked about sex. They grew up knowing about sex too.....from watching the stock on our farm, and talking to me and their dad. That doesn't mean I think it's ok to let a child read books that aren't age appropriate for them. He's your child and you can raise him as you see fit. Shouldn't mean that the school has to change the rules if they have a problem with younger children reading books meant for more mature kids.