[CALIBK12] Collection Development and GN After School Nightmare

[Waddle, Victoria]

This may seem a little off topic, but I want to respond to the statement "one of my technicians was disturbed by the fact that it is about a hermaphrodite. . ."

I've read a lot of good fiction, and a book that I'd have to rank in my top 25 is "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides--a book about a hermaphrodite seeking identity and acceptance. It is beautiful! I think it would be helpful to mature, 'questioning' teens, so a book shouldn't be passed on because a character is a hermaphrodite.

Graphic novels are hard to select because knowing whether they are appropriate is tough. At one time, I was able to run all of my ideas by the owner of a comic book store that sold graphic novels, including manga. He was a fanatic and incredibly helpful. I could look at a copy of anything before buying. Sadly, the store is no more, and I must rely on reviews--with mixed results.

Victoria Waddle
Colony High
Ontario
________________________________________
From: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu [calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu] On Behalf Of ode2living at aol.com [ode2living at aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 9:04 PM
To: calibk12 at listproc.sjsu.edu
Subject: [CALIBK12] Collection Development and GN After School Nightmare

Hello. I was wondering how many of you carry the series, After School Nightmare, or are familiar with the series. I ordered the series, but Follett delivered just one volume because the others were out of stock. One of my technicians was disturbed by the fact it is about a hermaphrodite and that on one page, there is a sex scene (bare shoulders in bed with no breasts showing). We also have a couple of students who are manga "gurus"; they've read tons of GN and recommend a lot of titles to me. Anyway, these girls told my tech that this series is NOT appropriate for high school and that one volume (or more?) has a scene that contains "full nudity." Does anyone know? My tech also said that in the MARC record Follett has the series identified as "adult," which is true. However, the publisher has the series classified as "OT: Older Teens 16+," and it was named a Top 10 Graphic Novel series for teens by CSLA.

So, this experience has me really thinking about:
1. Should I carry this in my HS collection? If so, how do I address the 16+ recommendation (if at all)?
2. a. How do you address the issue when one of your techs disagrees with your collection development decisions? Obviously, it's ultimately the TL's decision, and we've been trained to deem what's appropriate. However, I don't want to exclude my techs and would rather get them "on board" with what we have in our collection, especially when they, too, recommend these books to our students just as much as I do.
b. I also once had a different tech upset that I had purchased a novel that, in her opinion, had too many vulgar words. Of course, she hadn't read the book or the reviews. She is very conservative. I imagine many of us are questioned about our purchases by our staff. When this happens, how do you address it? Also, is this important enough for CSLA to address? Would paraprofessionals benefit from having a CSLA conference session on censorship and collection development, particularly those paraprofessionals who are in charge of collection development and don't have the benefit of a TL?

If you've made it this far, thank you! This post is really two-fold. TIA for any input.

Connie Joyce
Teacher Librarian
Rancho Cucamonga High School
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
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