Teacher Banning 8 y.o. DS from bringing Bunny vs Monkey books to school for his friends to read

[alixpally]

First day of school, and DS, 8, has been banned by his new teacher from bringing Bunny vs Monkey books to school for his friends to read - am I being unreasonable to be a bit miffed? Last year, he developed a habit of bringing lots of his favourite books in to school to lend to his friends to read during class reading time. This included Jamie Smart books, which were very popular. Today he came home crying because his new teacher has banned him from bringing any more Jamie Smart books, deeming them "rude, violent and inappropriate". I mean, yes, there is a bit of toilet humour, but it's not exactly Marvel comics - these are award winning books and frankly pretty cute and funny actually.
I can understand she may wish to discourage anarchic behaviour (and humour, I guess) but practically every book has violence built into the plot in some way (witness Grimm bros). I feel uneasy about a teacher who would discourage children from reading and sharing books. Should I do anything?

I'm thinking about it more and I'm gutted for this child - and irritated with the teacher. I would love nothing more than a kid coming to school with completely age appropriate books to share and talk about with his friends. That's an absolute JOY to watch and encourage. One of my favourite parts of being a teacher.

Ineffable23
spot on!

Should you do anything? Yes - respect the teacher's wishes. Why can’t he just lend them to his friends out of school?

The books are good comic fun but in my experience encourage chikdren to act out "play" fights and lots of fart jokes. I don’t blame the teacher for not wanting to encourage that in school. I don’t suppose she's trying to make the children read Dickens, but there are more worthwhile books they could be reading in school time.

Haha! yes he basically is the class librarian. He came up with this mobile library idea when he'd fallen out with his mate, and it helped him make other friends (his book bag weighed tons).
But it does make sense that we should back the teacher, and I do sympathise with concerns about having to police children's possessions swaps.
Many thanks for the great perspectives on this, great food for thought.

Still her rules….home school your kid if you have an issue ..but don’t expect a teacher to allow a random kid to bring his books into class to be distributed and read by his classmates in class time….fucking ridiculous ….obviously you have no respect for teachers unless they are doing things your way 🙄

I think that's a real shame. They're fun books and brilliant for those who might be a bit more reluctant. I thought teaching was a bit more enlightened nowadays, surely encouraging readjng for pleasure should be a big priority?

100% agree with this

Sigh.
Just let the teacher get on with teaching.
She doesn't need any extra crap or aggro.
There's a world of literature out there and it's part of her job to introduce him to new genres.
Keep home books for home and let him share them with his friends out of school.

There are far worse books for children.(cough...anything by David Walliams)

If she wants to define a culture you have to let her. It’s part of establishing order and concensus at that age. I don’t think it’s right your DS goes in on the first day and brings a culture with him when she has not got to know anyone yet, no matter how well intentioned and educational

It’s up to the teacher, but what a sad thing to do. The books are great at encouraging reluctant readers.

Maybe she's worried that another child will go home and repeat a bit of the toilet humor stuff, and then other parents might complain to the school.

As a side note, I have an 8 year old boy too and I'm now off to Google the books!

My son started reading bunny vs monkey because the school had a subscription to the phoenix comics!

I make all my children have at least one novel or decent non fiction book to read alongside graphic novels like this because I think they’re rubbish honestly - I’m all about the rights of the reader etc but if I let them have their way it’s literally all they’d read. They’re good for a first step for reluctant readers. But I don’t ban it and certainly not because they’re inappropriate?!

I took all these out of my book corner and hid them 😂

My suggestion: back the teacher, but for his next birthday party the gift bag is bunny vs monkey or looshkin.

I don’t love those books - even though we have millions of them - but they got my children reading when they were young and now they read novels.

Pretty shitty of the teacher to shame book choices, tbh.

I cannot stand David Walliams. Those books have terrible messages in them.

Secondary school English teacher here - the value judgement is the problem, not the saying the books can't be shared in class.

For what it's worth, my 9 year old loves Bunny Vs Monkey, The Phoenix, Corpse Talk etc. they also read more typical novels like Percy Jackson etc. You can enjoy both and Bunny vs Monkey actually has some fairly sophisticated vocabulary a times.

I do not love these books but they got my then 6 year old reading. Bunny v Monkey, CatKid, Dogman then onward and upwards to proper books with sentences. He still goes back to these a lot and reads them for fun. I really don't like the content at all but count myself v lucky that he can read them and it keeps him away from screens.

Can understand the teacher if it's more of a logistical issue swapping books or if he was reading something actually inappropriate! There are loads of kids books I don't like but outwardly disapproving seems counterintuitive to me (although I have the luxury of disappearing them at home, bye bye Horrid Henry).

This totally. Some children, not saying this is the OPs child btw, get very possessive and anxious about personal items they have brought in to “share”, I used to run a lunch time Comic Club, but it became very awkward when one child made others feel uncomfortable if they asked to read his comics , it made what was designed as a lunchtime refuge for children who were struggling in the playground very difficult . Maybe there is another child in the class who behaves like this so the teacher has taken the decision that no one brings in personal items to share.

OP, your child is moving up the school, he should be maturing and realising that a) his reading choices, and the reading choices of the class, need to reflect this and b) what was appropriate behaviour last year isn’t necessarily appropriate this year. Is he a bit anxious about school and perhaps holding onto this book sharing as a comfort activity?

The first few weeks of the new term are really important in setting the “tone” for a new class, the teacher has to establish how she wants the class to be, she has to make her expectations about how the children behave in class crystal clear, and each teacher makes their own decisions - from how children come into the class in the morning, to how they prepare to leave in the afternoon, and everything in between - they might seem small and petty expectations to parents but cumulatively they send an important message to the class. And believe me, if you do get it wrong in the first few weeks it takes a long time to sort it out later.

We had a teacher who banned the Horrid Henry books because all the characters are little dicks 😂 and she said it wound them up into silly behaviour.

I mean, just let him read his preferred books at home?

One of my grandchildren loved these books, I've recommended them to my son to encourage his reluctant reader.

I think they're fine a definitely appeal to this age group.

What a shame. My father is dull and boring, he always made me feel ashamed and immature for liking anything silly as a child. She could have handled the situation in a far better way.

her class, her rules... you might not see an issue with these books, but what about the parents of the children reading them? do they not have a say in what books their children read?

have you actually had a conversation with the teacher about the ban? or have you just assumed that your child is right and everyone else is wrong?