The Temptation to Gatekeep

I'm finally on Christmas break, but I keep thinking about work stuff. Go figure- the minute I get some free time, I decided to write about work stuff.

Actually I've been meaning to write about this for a while because it's been on my mind. I've been seeing A LOT of posts lately in my librarian Facebook groups about schools that serve middle school kids, either as a middle school or as a K-8 school like mine. Many of them seem to have rules about which grades can check out which books, like "8th grade only" or some other version of that idea.

I admit that it's very challenging to curate a collection that contains "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" as well as "Thirteen Reasons Why", but I firmly believe that every student in the school should be able to find books that interest, challenge, inform, inspire and comfort them. I also have latched onto the idea as books as mirrors and windows: some students might check out "Thirteen Reasons Why" and it will let them see another person's struggle. Some may read it and see a reflection of their own experiences, and both are important.

For that reason, I have not made any 'rules' like that, at least not yet. We have a YA section, but most students don't venture there unless they are already interested in it, and not put off by the thicker books with higher lexiles. The section where this predicament comes up the most is our Graphic Novel section.

Many of the 4th grade girls are going through those books like wildfire, and it makes me so happy to have them coming in multiple times a week, looking for a new book. However, there are a few books in that section which border YA/more mature themes.

For example, one girl recently wanted to borrow Drama, because she's already read all Raina Telgemeier's other titles.

I told her that there are some themes in there which make some people uncomfortable, and she asked what they were. I told her that it has a character who is gay, and she asked "What does that mean?" I asked her what she thought it meant, and she still didn't know. So I asked her if she was comfortable enough asking her parents about things she doesn't know, and what they would think of her reading a book like that.  .  .and she thought and said "I think I'll wait 'till next year for this one." I was so proud of her for putting so much thought into her reading choice.

And even more recently, one girl wanted to check out the graphic novel adaptation of Anne Frank's diary.

Aside from the usual information about the Holocaust, there are also some parts which deal with puberty, like when she first gets her period. I told the girl that books about the Holocaust tend to make people sad and upset, and she told me she's read sad books before. I also asked her if she'd feel comfortable asking her parents questions about what she was reading, and she said she would be. So she checked the book out, and she's not the first girl in that grade to read it either.

I don't want to be a gatekeeper, or keep girls from reading a powerful and inspiring book, one that has the potential to shape their identities as it did mine.  .  .

But I do want to make sure they read it at the best possible time, and not before they are ready to confront things that are so woven with themes of Life and Death. And I want their parents to trust me as someone who has their children's best interests in mind when they come into the library.