Angel Post #4

I read It's A Book for the first time last quarter and have been discussing the book with various people since then. I found the controversy surrounding the book to be fascinating. Since our class was discussing picture books at the time, I wanted to talk with them about their thoughts on the book. I wanted to pick the brains of my classmates on this topic and see what came up. That is exactly what happened.

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It's a Book! Controversy
PEACOCK, MELISSA
5/7/2011

Last quarter in Sherri's class she showed us the clip of "It's a Book!" like she has in the assignments folder. I immediately fell in love with the book. I am a technology oriented person, but that little clip seemed to ground me to the fact that books are still important in this technological age.

With those things in mind, I got my hands on a copy of the book. I read it with delight, taking in each page. The final words on the last page read, "It's a book, jackass!"...the irony being that that comment is directed to a donkey.

"It's a Book!" is a children's picture book. It offers delight and humor. But still I wonder...what is the appropriateness of the final words? They have offered a great deal of controversy since the books' publication. What are your thoughts? I have gone back and forth on where I stand, and am still very undecided!

Part of me feels that those words spoil the book's appropriateness for young readers, but the other part of me giggles at the humor and irony in that comment.

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RE: It's a Book! Controversy
BERGQUIST, BRITTANY
5/8/2011

Oh goodness, I had the exact same reaction! My mom works at Wade King Elementary's library, and I help out there now and again. One day I was there and she showed me a book that the school had recently bought, she asked me to read it I fell in love with the book. I thought it was a great way to combine books and technology together. I was really excited to find there was an ad for it. But when I got to the end, I couldn't stop laughing! And that is when my mom said "that is the reason we can't put it on the shelf... Can you imagine a little kindergartener bringing that home?"

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RE: It's a Book! Controversy
JONES, NICHOLLE
5/7/2011

Melissa. Just because it is a picture book, does not necessarily mean it is a children's book...... A child is not going to take the same thing away from this that an adult is, and I think it might be an okay book to read to a child if you explained that a donkey is also called a jackass. They will have no reference to it being an inappropriate word unless they have had exposure to it in an inappropriate way. I was a little torn at first too, but I think that it isn't such a big deal if it is explained in a naive manner. Just a thought.. does any one else have an opinion?

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RE: RE: It's a Book! Controversy
BERGQUIST, BRITTANY
5/8/2011

I would just worry about the child repeating it when there are other adults around and how they might wonder what the parents have been teaching the child. Also, if the book was to be in public school libraries, then the parent might get upset about how it should not be there, and how the book is inappropriate. Also, on the last page, the word "jackass" could be taken two different ways.

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RE: It's a Book! Controversy
WADKINS, BILL
5/7/2011

Hey Melissa- This really touches on two topics I've been thinking about. First of all, the technology/environmental issue. Second, the use of vocabulary in children's lit. But that is also a great point you've brought up about the appropriateness of the language.