[CALIBK12] Define Contemporary Fiction

Tue Oct 7 00:20:19 PDT 2008

Richard,

Just to clarify for you, the first paragraph of my daughter's 8th grade assignment says, "Choose a realistic or contemporary fiction book appropriate to your reading/grade level. Show it to me for approval by Sept. 28 so that I can make sure that you are reading a book in the correct genre."  In what continued to be an entire page of instructions, nowhere did the teacher define "realistic or contemporary fiction", or "correct genre" for that matter.

For my part, and why I posed the question "define contemporary fiction", I was trying to remain in the role of librarian instead of irate parent, wanting to gain a collective perspective to what I have now determined to be a vaguely worded assignment. I face this often enough at work, but as a parent, I try to switch gears and help my own child out the best I can as mom. I know a lot of us turn to this listserv for support, and that help sometimes seeps into our personal lives, something I greatly appreciate.

Best,
Tatiana Guyer
Librarian
Mayfield Junior School

--- On Mon, 10/6/08, Richard Moore <richardguy at aol.com> wrote:
From: Richard Moore <richardguy at aol.com>
Subject: Re: [CALIBK12] Define Contemporary Fiction
To: Thomas.Nixon at fresnounified.org, calibk12 at lists.sjsu.edu
Date: Monday, October 6, 2008, 10:31 PM

That sure is a bunch of assumptions for an assignment reported third hand.

Was the word "or" in the original assignment?

Contemporary realistic fiction does actually mean something, and if librarians don't know what that is, they need to look it up.

 Richard K. Moore, InfoSherpa

Huntington Beach, CA

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-----Original Message-----

From: Thomas Nixon <Thomas.Nixon at fresnounified.org>

To: calibk12 at lists.sjsu.edu <calibk12 at lists.sjsu.edu>

Sent: Mon, 6 Oct 2008 12:54 pm

Subject: Re: [CALIBK12] Define Contemporary Fiction

#yiv488795708 #AOLMsgPart_3_06c02b1a-f5e1-4627-869f-5338bc815926 P {MARGIN-TOP:0px;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0px;}

Yet one more English teacher attempting to kill the love of reading! Sigh...

I say that being a former English teacher. Absolutely
Breaking Dawn is contemporary fiction. Is it perhaps in a sub-set of that group? Probably. Could an argument be made that it is not realistic fiction? Yes (well, unless you believe in vampires). However, it sounds like they were offered a choice of
 either contemporary fiction or realistic fiction.

I think the teacher is trying to make a distinction between Literature (with a capital 'L') and contemporary fiction. My take is that the barrier between the two is not as strong as it once was, particularly in YA.

All that being said, is it worth a fight (or even a conversation) with the teacher? Probably not in your case because your daughter is fortunate enough to have you to watch out for her reading needs.

Tom Nixon

--

Teacher Librarian

Tehipite Middle School

630 N. Augusta Street

Fresno, CA 93701

(559) 457-3420, x. 570

Web: http://www.tehipitelibrary.org

Blog: http://notyourmotherslibrarian.blogspot.com

From: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu on behalf of Larry & Tania Guyer

Sent: Mon 10/6/2008 11:51 AM

To: calibk12 at lists.sjsu.edu

Subject: [CALIBK12] Define Contemporary Fiction

Yesterday, my daughter brought a Language Arts issue to my attention, and I have to say I'm stumped. Her 8th grade teacher has assigned her students to do a book report, on either a realistic fiction or contemporary fiction book. My daughter
 chose Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer for contemporary fiction, and the teacher shot down her selection (in front of class), informing her that fantasy or science fiction does not qualify as contemporary fiction. Now, I suggested she just go with what the
 teacher says, and she has gone one to work on Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. Now, the mama bear in me want to argue with the lady, and point out that her instructions were not clear enough; she didn't define realistic or contemporary fiction on her handout.
 Here's the big question: How do you define contemporary fiction, especially for middle/high school students? Is it specific? Is it broad?

Thanks,

Tatiana Guyer

Librarian

Mayfield Junior School

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