Alice in InfoLand

There’s been major harrumphing in the biblioblogosphere and then the MSM about a discussion on LM_Net re the 2007 Newbery Award winner:
Susan Patron’s The Higher Power of Lucky.

FWIW, the definitive response to the whole brouhaha is Kristen Mclean’s Thoughts on the Great Scrotum Kerfuffle of 2007.  As Liz B on Pop Goes the Library says of Mclean’s exposition: “It’s thoughtful, it’s well documented, it covers all sides.  And it has a scientific illustration!”

My comment to all those who’ve dismissed the book without even reading it — Judge not, lest ye be judged.

Addendum:  read Susan Patron’s excellent article in the L.A. Times, responding to all the criticism.  As she points out:

The problem with “scrotum,” evidently, is discomfort among adults who do not wish to see references to body parts in children’s literature. Also, fear of giggling. What if the teacher or librarian loses control of a class of kids, however briefly, while reading the book aloud? …

Of course, adults are right to fear a word in a book, although not, as in this instance, because it names a body part. They are right in the implied assumption that books have enormous power and influence. Children who read widely understand more about the world; they have a foundation for making better decisions. …

There are Newberys for every taste and for a range of reading ability and developmental levels. …Certain winning titles introduce concepts such as child abuse, racism, animal neglect, the Holocaust, slavery, abandonment. Why burden children with these heavy subjects? Because they live in the same world we do. They perceive much more than we may want to recognize. Well-written books that respect a child’s intelligence enable readers to identify with the protagonist’s mental and physical struggles. This helps them to see different perspectives and shades of gray, rather than a world of absolutes.

Granville Hicks said it best:  “A censor is a man who knows more than he thinks you ought to.”

tags: Newbery, censorship

My new acronym for a practical strategy in new learning experiences:
Read The Directions And Do What They Say.
In some cases, this may even be shortened to RTD…d (said through clenched teeth)!

Yes, I know that some of us are the adventurous/intuitive sort, who would rather just “play” and see what happens.  But when you’re learning how to utilize something that has serious end-result ramifications — an expensive piece of equipment, say, or a grad course you need to pass — reading those instructions might prevent some painful screw-ups.

A friend recently asked if I could figure out why her brand-new (to her) PDA had stopped working.  Kim got it last month as a hand-me-down from her daughter, who’d moved up to the latest model.  I helped Kim set it up, showed her how to use it, and told her to read the (surprisingly well-written) instruction manual carefully.  But Kim didn’t read the manual, and somehow didn’t process the important details about having to recharge and hotsync the PDA often… and now all her carefully inputted data is gone.

 
And don’t even get me started on students who complain that the teacher’s requirements are too nit-picky.  If I’m a devil for the details it’s because I’ve learned the hard way: I once lost out on a very valuable grant because I used the wrong color ink on the application form. 
So rule of thumb: there’s probably a reason for those specific and detailed directions.  You may not understand them at first, or even like them. Tough.
Just read them and follow them, because you should.

OK, this is the perfect example of technology-gone-bad:

the Hog Wild Motorized Ice Cream Cone (in your choice of dishwasher-safe plastic colors, yet) for the sloth who’s worried about getting a charliehorse in their tongue.
Ye. Gods.

(found via Popgadget)

A little late for this year’s Banned Books Week, but still worth sharing (with thanks to the reminder from LibraryBitch):

Many books have been challenged banned over the years, largely due to complaints stemming from both parents and advocacy groups, often for rather obscure reasoning. Yet despite the challenges, these books are still published and available, and do get read.

The question is, how many of these have you read?    Feel free to copy the list into your blog, highlighting in bold the banned books you have already had the good fortune to read:

• Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
• Daddy’’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
• Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling (any or all)
• Forever by Judy Blume
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
• Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (any or all)
• Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
• My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• It’’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
• Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
• A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• Sex by Madonna
• Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel (any or all)
• The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’’Engle
• Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
• Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
• In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
• The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard (any or all)
• The Witches by Roald Dahl
• The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
• Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry (any or all)
• The Goats by Brock Cole
• Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
• Blubber by Judy Blume
• Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
• Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
• We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
• Final Exit by Derek Humphry
• The Handmaid’’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
• What’’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
• The Pigman by Paul Zindel
• Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
• Deenie by Judy Blume
• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
• Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
• The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
• Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
• A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice) (any or all)
• Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
• Cujo by Stephen King
• James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
• The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
• Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
• Ordinary People by Judith Guest
• American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
• What’’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
• Are You There, God? It’’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
• Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
• Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
• Fade by Robert Cormier
• Guess What? by Mem Fox
• The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
• The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding
• Native Son by Richard Wright
• Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
• Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
• Jack by A.M. Homes
• Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
• Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
• Carrie by Stephen King
• Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
• On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
• Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
• Family Secrets by Norma Klein
• Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
• The Dead Zone by Stephen King
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
• Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
• Private Parts by Howard Stern
• Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
• Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
• Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
• Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
• Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
• Sex Education by Jenny Davis
• The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
• Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
• How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
• View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
• The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
• The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
• Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Hmmm… I guess being a Youth Services Specialist (in both school and public libraries) for all these years has certainly broadened my viewpoints!  

According to Reed Hundt, former FCC chair, he once asked Bill Bennett, former Secretary of Education, to support the legislative proposal for the Telecommunications Law of 1996 that would eventually pay for internet access in all classrooms and libraries in the country. 

Bennett refused to help, because, as he told Hundt, he did not want public schools to obtain new funding, new capability, new tools for success. He wanted them, he said, to fail so that they could be replaced with vouchers,charter schools, religious schools, and other forms of private education.  Gee, nice statement from the guy being paid by the guvm’t to set policy for public schools.

Fortunately, the bill did manage to pass, and as Hundt points out in his article at the TPM cafe, "The Internet has been the first technology made available to students in poorly funded schools at about the same time and in about the same way as to students in well funded schools."

 

Uh oh.  According to this week’s Free Will Astrology for us Piscators (pisceans?),

“before the end of 2005 you will figure out how to take advantage of a quality you’ve always considered a liability. This seeming weakness or unloveliness may even become a spiritual asset.
The transformation begins now.”

The list of my liabilities is long and lugubrious, spanning the full gamut of physical, emotional, psychological, and even spiritual unlovelinesses.  Does this mean that I can somehow prosper from my slothfulness, cynicism, and general curmudgeonliness?
Which one should I focus on first, and why?  How?

Check out Mark Fiore’s witty (and unfortunately still relevant) animated cartoon .. and thanks to uglicoyote at The Endless Faculty Meeting for reminding me about it.

as noted on Boingboing: “Hot erotica on Parents Against Bad Books In School site” by Mark Frauenfelder:

I think PABBIS (Parents Against Bad Books IN School) is a little too interested in “bad” books.
The following is an excerpt from its “SAMPLE BOOK REVIEW DOCUMENTATION FORM.”
For each type checked above also indicate level of vividness/graphicness using the following as a general guide:
-Basic (B): large breasts
-Graphic (G): large, voluptuous bouncing breasts
-Very graphic (VG): large, voluptuous bouncing breasts with hard nipples
-Extremely graphic (EG): large, voluptuous bouncing breasts with hard nipples covered with glistening sweat and bite marks

Ye Gods!!  I’m not sure which is worse, that this idiot organization:

• thinks schools have enough money to buy these kinds of books, when so many school libraries are desperate for funds to buy just curriculum-related materials, and/or
• that the PABBIS PTB even managed to set up a rubric for evaluating offensive materials!

Some people really, really, really need to get their minds out of the gutter!   

Our ancient air-conditioner finally died, after 35+ years of steady service. So we bought a newer, quieter (yes!!) more efficient model, and as Himself was installing it, I realized that it comes with a Remote-Control device.
The manufacturer is afraid you might work up a sweat if you have to walk over to the actual machine to turn it on or off?
That’s waaaay too much techno-glitz for me, thank you!

My local public library has a policy that titles on the “new books” shelves cannot be renewed, in order to give everyone equal opportunity to read the latest books. But to enforce that rule when there are several other copies of the same book sitting there on the shelf? Obviously, no-one else is waiting for MY copy, so why not let me renew it? Sorry, said the clerk, that’s the rule.

I suggested that she check IN my copy, and then check it OUT to me (again), but that seemed too much like a renewal to suit her.
OK, I said, I’ll return this copy, and then immmediately check out a different copy of the same title … but I want to discuss this with the library director now, please.
Oh no, please don’t do that, said the clerk.
Don’t do what — check out a different copy, or talk to the director?
Either, she replied. The director doesn’t need to be bothered about this.
(Mind you, the director does know me, as both a fellow librarian and library user.)

Oh, really? I said, and dumped my copy into the book-drop.
Then I took a new copy of the same book off the shelf, and waited in line (!!!) to check it out.
When I got to the desk, the clerk asked someone else to cover for her so that SHE would not have to check out my book.
I took my (new) book and left. Should I bother to discuss this with the library director, or just avoid that particular clerk the next time I want to renew anything?

I’ve been following the news about this misbegotten federal bill proposall that would prohibit states from receiving “any funds under any [Education Department] program or activity” unless it establishes a “parent review and empowerment council” at each local education agency. H.R. 2295 requires parent councils to meet at least every six months to “provide significant input … regarding the purchase or acquisition of any library or classroom-based reference, instructional, or other print material for use in any elementary school,” except textbooks. The councils would be comprised of 5–15 members, most of whom would be parents of students enrolled in that district’s school system.”

Christopher Harris, on his Infomancy blog  remind us that

“This bill presumes that the “highly qualified” teachers and librarians mandated under NCLB are, in fact, incompetent. It assumes, as with filtering software discussed before, that students are incapable of making decisions on their own. This creates an environment where information is driven underground. Information literacy cannot be learned in a controlled environment. Students learn to evaluate the crush of information sources they will face in the world only by encountering examples of good and bad.”

Thanks to Steven Cohen’s Library Stuff for the pointer to Harris’s excellent blog !

Updated: A store proclaiming itself “The Psychic Gift Gallery” just opened locally.  Does this mean that they’ll know what I’m looking for before I walk in the door? FWIW, this store is next to the Kosher Chinese / Jerusalem Pizza restaurants! Our town firmly believes in diversity!

Tammy Paolino’s op-ed column in The Home News Tribune (in central NJ) — “Proposed gay book ban would leave gaping holes on school library shelves” — should be required reading for all would-be censors.  

Paolino points out many of the cultural icons throughout history who would be ‘banned’ if Alabama state Rep. Gerald Allen’s bill to prohibit public school libraries in his state from ‘stocking books written by gay authors or about gay characters’ were to ever be enacted.

For example: it would be hard to teach any course on Western Civilization if you couldn’t mention Socrates, Plato, Michelangelo, da Vinci, Dante, and maybe even Shakespeare.  And don’t even think of what would happen to an American Lit course — no Melville, Thoreau, Cather, or Whitman.

You tell ‘em, Tammy!!

Edithe Fulton, president of the NJEA, in a local op-ed column defending teacher health benefits:

Those benefits have never been given to any teacher or school employee. They have been earned. Those benefits are part of an overall compensation package that teachers agree to accept when they enter the profession. They are one element of the contract which makes the profession attractive to many highly educated and talented professionals who could earn (and in some cases were earning) more money in other fields.
[snip]
 It is ironic that there are three groups of employees who are widely criticized for the salaries they earn: professional athletes, CEOs and teachers. When third-grade teachers (who, I would argue, are far more important than third basemen) start bringing home anything like the $25 million a year that the Yankees’ third baseman Alex Rodriguez makes, that association may be apt. Until then, we should be glad that so many caring, capable people are willing to devote their careers to teaching children, despite the modest financial rewards.

How true!!

Janis M. Houston, a media specialist at West Middle School in Aurora CO describes the impact that standardized testing can have on students, in the March 18, 2005  Rocky Mountain News

I am angry. Madly, passionately, blindly angry.

For the past two weeks I’ve sat with a group of eighth-grade special education students, struggling to take the Colorado Student Assessment Program tests. By definition, these students are classified special education because they do not have the capabilities of other students. Their reading levels are second, third, and fourth grade, but they must by law take the eighth-grade CSAP tests. You can see the despair in their faces.

They can’t answer the questions because they don’t understand them. Their teacher encourages them to do their best, and they understand it won’t be good enough. Being so young, they only blame themselves.
 
I am not their teacher, I’m the media specialist. Their teacher works all year trying to get these students ready for this test because it counts big. The scores these students make will be averaged in with the scores of all the other students in our school. Once again our school will be considered, at best, partially proficient. Once again, our teachers will be subjected to endless in-servicing, as though it is their fault that the students cannot pass this test.

Read the full article, which I found via a link on The Endless Faculty Meeting blog.