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?

Yes they are very silly and violent but that's sort of the point

I don’t know these books (mine are older) but perhaps recent events are suggesting silly violence is not a great point of focus at this age?

But 'inappropriate' is subjective, and it's her house!

Well I would imagine she’s banned them for a variety of reasons…..OP only has her kids version…..and as we know there are are several versions to the same story..,,especially school stories

I do think the teacher should state there is a blanket ban on all books being brought in during school hours as opposed to this specific book if the issue is regarding children damaging and stealing each others property as others have suggested (which is also a very valid concern). The way it was phrased by the teacher was poor.

I don’t know these books but I am going to link them to the recent riots is certainly a new take on Bunny Vs Monkey.

Were you there?? ….did you hear how it was phrased??

So she's deliberately discouraging the kids from reading.

There's a million reasons she could have stopped books coming into classes - my issue is how she's handled it in terms of saying the content is inappropriate.

That's not her judgement to make - what she's doing is telling other parents that these books are not good for children - when they are absolutely brilliant and should be encouraged with any child who is struggling. For educational reasons.

She's just crushed the OPs kid joy in the way she's done this and her reasoning.

Well you seem to know, better than the OP that it's been done in an appropriate way 🙄

This.

Bit dramatic🙄

IF that is what the teacher said, worthy of further discussion.

Let's assume for a nanosecond that perhaps they didn't, or even if they did given it's the first day of term and they weren't quite on their game.

Take a breath and re approach.

More flies with honey than vinegar.

I don’t have a baldy clue 🤣….but more to the point, neither does OP ….just her kids version of events.

No I wasn’t there but the op said the teacher deemed them “violent “ and “inappropriate “. The point I am making is if the issue is around bringing in books in general as many have suggested as children can damage and steal the books etc there was no need to state this. Is this thread reserved only for those who were first hand witnesses to comment ? I’m just going on a what the op said. And I’ve said I can see both sides .

We don't actually know if she's objecting to the method or the reading material however. Which is why my post started with the word 'if'.

It's silly season in school the first few weeks of term.

Just breathe

It will all settle down.

The kid came home crying and believes that the teacher disapproves of his reading choices. If she doesn’t then she really should be aware that she fucked up getting her message across so that she can clarify.

Perfect age for it, no? I devoured the Horrible Histories books as a child, and it’s still useful stuff when watching University Challenge.

The OP said that the words 'violent' and 'inappropriate' were used.

I doubt that the OP somehow got this wrong or it was miscommunicated... It's fairly explicit and difficult to mistake.

I agree with this opinion in terms of the value of these books in motivating reluctant readers and SEN children but wholeheartedly disagree with the suggestion of complaining officially.

First step is for the op to approach the teacher, ask (in a friendly, non-confrontational way) why she doesn't want op's ds bringing the books into school.

If it's logistics, behaviour, disrupting learning etc then fair enough and explain to ds.

If the teacher repeats the value judgement that op's son relayed to her, then explain how upset ds was and then say why you value the books, maybe sharing positive feedback given by both parents and teachers on this thread.

If the teacher isn't swayed (not necessarily to allow the sharing but to appreciate the value of the books) it might be worth trying to talk to the English lead.

The op's son is going to be in this class for a year. Going in all guns blazing or going over the teacher's head by making a formal complaint, isn't conducive to creating positive relationships.

I’d put money on what the teacher said being somewhat different to what the child reported.

FGS, let the teacher do her job. She’ll be trying to figure out if introducing BvM to the class will be a non event or set 12 year 4 boys into a spiral of fart jokes that take the rest of the class and her attention away from what they should be doing.

This, a million times.

I deal with the fall out of children, especially boys, who are put off reading from an early age.

By 11, getting them back into books is a huge struggle.

Well aware of that.

You can have a hill to die on and have much needed words with teachers about why they have fucked up and need a word with themselves without being confrontational.

But still important to challenge on certain things. This is 100% one.

First day back at school (here) and already entitled parents are complaining about the teacher, want to go to the headteacher blah blah because their little Johnie was told not to bring in books to loan out. Bugger the disruption it causes when kids start arguing about which book they want, or that it’s come back torn. Parents need to go into the classroom for an afternoon and see what teachers have to put up with. There is a crisis in teacher recruitment, wonder why?

I guess the main issue here is the teacher criticising the book directly to your son. Ideally, if she didn't want the book read in class, she should have had a quiet and diplomatic word with you.