Challenged Book Procedure

I think it is important to have a Challenged Book Procedure in place from the beginning. It is always best to plan for issues before they arise. My dad always told me, "Fail to plan and you'll plan to fail." This silly little saying is so true! It's a great idea to know how you will handle a challenged book in your library before you're faced with that issue. By planning for this, you are more likely to be able to put the challenger's mind at rest than if you have no plan at all.

It's important for librarians to be familiar with books that are frequently challenged and why those books are challenged. Being aware of these books, will help librarians avoid issues with challenged books. 

Below is a link to ALA's list of frequently challenged books:

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/21stcenturychallenged 

Fantasy

I think young adults are drawn to read fantasy books because it offers an escape from reality. Young adults face so much stress and pressures, reading gives them an escape from this. Fantasy novels are typically read for enjoyment, another reason young adults are drawn to this genre. I recently read some fantasy books for young adults. I asked some high school students what their favorite fantasy book were. Below are the most popular responses I received. 

                                           

Cultural Diversity

It is so important for children to be exposed to cultural diversity. One way to comfortably expose children to this is through books! I think culturally diverse books provide children with the knowledge and the mentality to be tolerant of others and to care for others. Teachers can use culturally diverse books to teach almost every character education trait. 

I recently read two culturally diverse books! 

Esperanza Rising and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. I enjoyed both of them!

Historical Fiction versus Information Text

As I stated in an earlier post, I read a historical fiction book about slavery, Future Slave. I also read several informational books about slavery. The historical fiction book was very close to how the informational books described the times. I think as long as the HF book is accurate, that is an excellent way to connect students' interest to informational text. As I read historical fiction, I often wonder if certain events are true. I find myself looking up this information in informational text. I know if I make this connection, so will some students. As a media specialist it's important to help the students who do not automatically make that connection.

Vardell's Take on Historical Fiction and Informational Text

Vardell states that historical fiction can be one of the hardest genres to promote to young readers. I, personally, have never been a fan of historical fiction. Historical fiction is described as being fiction with a setting that is historical. There is no specific time frame that text is considered to be historical or not. Vardell points out that well-written HF contains: compelling characters, engaging plots, and meaningful themes. HF should give the reader a sense of participation in the past events. There are many types of historical fiction: US History, World History, Historical Series, Historical Picture Books, and Blending Genres.

Vardell gives very important criteria for evaluating historical fiction. The categories are characters, plot, setting, theme, style, and stereotyping. The reader should be able to identify with the protagonist of the story. The characters of the story should be doing realistic things from that time period. The plot should also be accurate to the time period. The setting of historical fiction text should be vividly described, according to Vardell. The theme of the story should reflect the attitudes, values, and morals of the times, but also be relevant to today. Since these often differ so greatly, this is often a challenge. The style of writing should capture the times with the dialect or language pattern of people from that time. Vardell also warns about selecting text with offensive stereotypes. As times change, so do attitudes. What once was okay and a general mindset of people, can now be highly offensive.

Informational text is described as nonfiction text. There are several types of informational books: survey books, photo essays, concept books, social histories, informational storybooks, activity books, trivia books, series books and reference tools, magazines, and more! Vardell suggests the following categories to be taken into consideration when evaluating informational text: accuracy, organization, design, and style. The way the text is organized is important. Since informational books aren't always read entirely, it's important that the text is organized.The design of the book helps make the book more appealing to readers.  The style of the book is what takes if from being just a list of facts to an interesting collection of information.

Historical fiction books and informational books are both important parts of a media collection. Both genres provide an excellent opportunity for teachers to integrate each genre into the classroom!