You Don’t Want a Book Challenge, Do You?

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5860/jifp.v8i1.7871

Abstract

This article includes a compilation of three personal stories from the author’s time as an elementary librarian at a K-12 private school in Atlanta, Georgia. While struggling with classroom management during her first year as a school librarian, she was surprised by anatomical language in a read-aloud that she had forgotten about after pre-reading the book. She had a split second to decide whether to read what was actually written. During her second year, she went through my library’s reconsideration process when a parent challenged a book of scary stories. The worst part? She had used that book in a lesson with the entire third grade. And finally, throughout her time with this school, she fought for a book that was not being officially challenged, but voluntarily censored by her colleague. The author shares these stories with honesty about how sh handled each situation, and with a little advice added.

Author Biography

Sarah Beth Nelson, University of Wisconsin - Whitewater

Sarah Beth Nelson (nelsons@uww.edu), Assistant Professor, Educational Foundations Department, Director of Library Media program, Director of UW System School Library Media Cooperative, and Coordinator of Master of Science in Professional Studies, University of Wisconsin–Whitewater.

References

Jennings, Patrick. 2009. We Can’t All Be Rattlesnakes. New York: Harper Collins.

O’Shei, Tim. 2010. Creepy Urban Legends. Scary Stories. Mankato, MN: Capstone Press.

Richardson, Justin, and Peter Parnell. 2005. And Tango Makes Three. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Schwartz, Alvin. 1981. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. New York: Harper.

Published

2023-12-01