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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be angry my yr3 DD has been given...

83 replies

2468whodoweappreciate · 03/04/2017 23:50

...a teenage fiction book to read in school?

With at least one reference to sex according to my DD. Googling the book revealed it's target reading age is teenager / young adult. The synopsis of the entire plot is also extremely questionable as to suitability for a junior child (revolves around girls chasing dates, inc advertising themselves to boys, for a school dance).

OP posts:
staghunter · 04/04/2017 12:11

Catsarenice - I had almost the exact conversation at the same age! But I explained to my dad that Adrian mole was measuring his cactus (as shown on the book cover)

windypolar · 04/04/2017 12:11

I liked that Blume book too, Giles. Margaret wasn't it?

catsarenice · 04/04/2017 12:27

Haha staghunter!!!

ChrisYoungFuckingRocks · 04/04/2017 12:27

😂😂😂 At Gile's kids licking their books.

My DTDs got a totally inappropriate book in Y3. It was about a father who abandons his family and moves to the US to move in with his OW. The mother refuses to be seen with her son as it makes her look old and damages her 'image'. It was horrible, and when I brought it up with the school, they said they felt it was age appropriate, because these thing happen in RL. FFS - they were 7!!! How about protecting their innocence a bit longer. I flatly refused to read it to my DC, and got a stern letter from the head reprimanding me.

ChrisYoungFuckingRocks · 04/04/2017 12:31

My 8-year old devours David Walliams books.

ThePiglet59 · 04/04/2017 12:36

Will nobody think of the children?

Blossomdeary · 04/04/2017 12:37

This has been a problem with one of my DGS's who has been reading fluently for years and his teacher says has covered the whole primary English and maths curriculum with still 4 years to go till he moves on.

Some of the books he brought home when in class one had been poached from class 6 - he was perfectly well able to read them but the subject matter was inappropriate. His parents have been buying a whole selection of books for him to try an fill this gap.

It seems rather pointless to be sending him home from school with books just for the sake of it, when they are unsuitable. We all know he can read!

PussCatTheGoldfish · 04/04/2017 12:39

My DD, also 7, came home with a Horrid Henry trilogy, which we both enjoyed. She also loves the Helen Moss adventure stories. They're a bit like modern Famous Five stories.

I'd hate her to read what your DD brought home, but I get twitchy at the new Scooby Doo cartoons where the are all in relationships!

HelenaGWells · 04/04/2017 12:46

The problem is once they get into juniors
The library of books goes from 7-11 so there is a huge range. Our schools library splits the books into lower and upper juniors from what I recall but sometimes things do slip through.

CauliflowerSqueeze · 04/04/2017 12:53

I'm in the other camp. I'm a teacher who has a class of Year 7s, some of whom are avidly reading books about sexual and physical abuse in childhood that I think are inappropriate but their parents are obviously happy for them to read as they are bringing them in from home. Need to alert the parents after the holidays.

GnomeDePlume · 04/04/2017 13:00

Mistakes happen, dont be angry, just explain.

We had the situation where DD2 (Y6)'s class was set to google famous Victorians. Some of the images for Prince Albert were not of Victoria's husband!

Cue DH being met in the playground by a very embarrassed teacher. Fortunately DH is entirely unshockable, he just laughed and said he would explain to DD2.

No harm was done.

Gileswithachainsaw · 04/04/2017 13:04

gnome

Grin
5moreminutes · 04/04/2017 13:04

Very young children with a high reading age would probably be more appropriately challenged by some of the slightly more old fashioned children's fiction, a lot of which has quite an advanced vocabulary and can be quite wordy, than by trashy teen dating stories (which are usefully only to convince the reluctant older reader to actually read something, anything!).

ForTheSakeOfFuck · 04/04/2017 13:10

I think the topic of books tends to bother me more than the age-rating. The nauseating, unvarying, soul-crushing little girliez who get rescued by teh big handsome menz occurs in all genres and at all age-ranges. My DS isn't reading yet but he loves to be read to, so I make sure that he gets a nice, wide diet that has heroes, heroines, and animals characters that are both male and female FFS why is it so difficult to find a female animal character. Otherwise some of them magically become female.

Anyway a bit off-topic, but yes, I think the general girls-chasing-boys and all the ideology that gets packed in with it would concern me. The sex wouldn't in and of itself, but again, as long as it isn't done in the above style of "teh little girliez repaying teh big handsome menz". Blurgh.

flumpsnshit · 04/04/2017 13:23

Charlottes web ?

Gileswithachainsaw · 04/04/2017 13:29

I think the topic of books tends to bother me more than the age-rating. The nauseating, unvarying, soul-crushing little girliez who get rescued by teh big handsome menz occurs in all genres and at all age-ranges

God yes. It's either bunnies and puppies or girly girly shit. And for boys it's all about some little shit being naughty....

No wonder so many kids hate reading.

No wonder I leaned towards the whole point horror stuff and the more gritty real life style books.

Jux · 04/04/2017 14:32

At the Back of the North Wind
The Wind on the Moon
Gobbolino, the Witch's Cat
The Tree that Sat Down
Narnia series, at least The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, maybe The Horse and his Boy
The Borrowers

There are so many the school could have chosen.

Original poster
2468whodoweappreciate · 04/04/2017 14:42

Reading through the replies (thank you all) I can see there may be an argument for having this type of book in the school, but it should be in a reserved type section only given out with permission from a named responsible teacher who knows what they are giving out! And only to yr 6 reluctant readers who otherwise may not read, flagging up to parents regarding suitability, otherwise no no no no no!

If my DD had not spoken to me about it I wouldn't have known about the book, as the school book never comes home. I'm so glad she talked to me.

Yes there are so many other books which would widen her imagination & enrich vocabulary. Insane this book would even be available. If ppl want their kids to read this sort of thing (I'm not suggesting the book is 'wrong' but it wrong to have it freely available in a school) that's a choice to be made at home. I choose not to let my DC have this trashy vacuous type of thing on tv & I don't want my DC reading it either.

OP posts:
Gileswithachainsaw · 04/04/2017 14:44

School simply can't police every single book. There's no way.

What needs to happen is kids need to be able to bring them home and allow parents to look at them and an option to change them should parents feel they are not appropriate.

dreamreckless · 04/04/2017 14:49

I do think with some books it's wise to be cautious, tbh.

Enid Blyton gave me some weird attitudes so I'm not just being against 'older' books. I have kept my little DD away from EB's books.

Jux · 04/04/2017 15:06

Why can't school police every single book? They are responsible for what books they have, and which books are given to which children. Teachers can read.
Lots of teachers have children.
Lots of teachers police their own children's books.
Just extend what they already know "no, I wouldn't be happy with my own 7yo reading that" "yes my 6 yo loved that whole series" "my son was a very reluctant reader but was beguiled by this series and is a bookworm now" etc.

Original poster
2468whodoweappreciate · 04/04/2017 15:08

giles the school read book never comes home so no chance to police it myself. In fact I asked my DD to bring it home without involving the school initially & she asked not to cos of the trouble she'd get in if caught ie they are actively told not to bring it home. Hence why I asked school directly to pass it to me at hometime. Even when I asked to be given it at hometime the staff member was pushing to deal with other herself with my DD so there was (in her eyes) no need for the book to come home at all!

OP posts:
BertrandRussell · 04/04/2017 15:09

I honestly don't think we can possibly say without knowing what book it was. Didn't you ask your dd what the title was?

Gileswithachainsaw · 04/04/2017 15:11

They can of course purchase what are deemed to be children's books that cover the wide range of ages attending the school.

However they can't be expected to read every single one of them and decide for everybody what's appropriate and what's not.

Dd1 was a free reader in yr 1. We were told that as she now had a bigger range to choose from that we would need to check over what she brought home and if we weren't happy or she didn't like it she could change it no questions.

Gileswithachainsaw · 04/04/2017 15:13

I thats the point you can argue. You should be able to see the book. Because parents do need to be able to keep track of what they are reading. For precisely this reason.

I disagree books should be censored for everyone but I do support the parents getting to chose if they think their kid can handle it.

I would tell your rd to write down the title and author so you can check until school decide to let them.come home

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