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?

The school decide what books the students should read while in school and purchase these. I don't think children should be allowed to take in their own books and run a mini library service within the school. Children shouldn't get to decide what other children read. What if parents don't like their child reading the sort of books your ds takes in? They may complain to the school and it can all get a bit messy, because these are not books that have been okayed by the school to read during school. Maybe your ds can start a book club independent of the school. Pleaaw let the teacher get on with her job, without making her life a bit more difficult just bc your son came home crying because he didn't like the rules.

I don’t blame teachers for being annoyed about the stuff they have to deal with and agree a lot of people are entitled and complain for no good reason. However if the teacher went into detail about how inappropriate the books are to the child I think the teacher overstepped the mark. These are children’s books and the parent is happy for the child to read them. The sharing of the books on school property is a different matter and I can see why a teacher would not want it going on during school hours or having anything to do with it. No need to tell the child the book is inappropriate though

I did my dissertation on Enid Blyton!

I was referring to the “five children arrested over the murder of an 80 year old man” situation

Perhaps I should have been more clear. But any casual approach to violence is not a good look tbh. Do we want our boys normalising “silly violence”?

There are plenty of teachers on this thread saying that the teacher in question was wrong to criticise an 8 year old boy's reading choices.

Boys who get a 4+ in English GCSE = 65.4%
Girls who get a 4+ in English GCSE = 77.1%

Boys massively underperform compared to girls at GCSE, their poor literacy is a huge problem for the country. We need boys to read more. Reading more improves GCSE results.

Any teacher who sends a boy home crying because she criticised his reading choices needs to know about it.

Any teacher who thinks that it is ok that this happened needs to reflect on the figures I've just posted.

They're doing thinks like building shrink guns or inventions that take the characters into meta verses. Are we banning Danger Mouse etc now as well?

I somehow doubt that the five children arrested for murder were taking a break from reading silly comic books when they did it.

Surely it’s important to find out from the person involved, as well as OP’s son, exactly the circumstances and to explain how he has interpreted what was said and how much it’s upset him.

Reading. Yes. But taking your stuff into school results in arguments about loss, theft, damage. Your saying its friends. Arguments between friends take loads of time to resolve as well. Something teachers don't want to expend time one. Or do you think the teacher should spend time everyday dealing with kids arguing over toys, creations, books and treasures OR that your child should have some sort of special permission?

Yes it's annoying but it sounds like this isn't going to put him off reading altogether. If it was the only book he liked I would be speaking to his teacher about it.

Have you had a dyslexic child?! My child’s teacher and the SENCO work very hard finding books my DC feels engaged in an can try to enjoy for her reading ability. If you have a child who can read, feel free to scoff at the school’s resources. If you have an 8 year old with the reading ability of a 5 year old - those resources are invaluable.

Thanks for the tone of superiority and rudeness aimed at a parent with a child with a learning disability though! Nice one.

Ok but can you see any particular trajectory with this? If not, fair enough - maybe the teacher can and would prefer not to be part of it 🤷‍♀️

'These books are fab and it's great that you're reading them, however they are just TOO funny and I need the class to be calm and sensible so can you please swap them after school, or take them into the library to read at lunchtime' would have been a better approach to 'banning' them from the lesson.

No, I cannot see a trajectory between Bunny vs Monkey and murder.

I strongly doubt the class teacher can either.

You haven't even read them.

Goodness. Just ask the teacher what the class reading rules are this year?

Big Bunny vs Monkey fan here. Also a big fan of primary school teachers. New class, day one, give a bit of grace.

Some people here also really need to unclench about comics, comic-book violence, and fart humour.

This thread isn’t really about reading - it’s about a spoilt child who’s mum thinks rules don’t apply to him and therefore doesn’t know how to cope with being told “no”.

People read violent books/watch violent films all the time. 99.9% of them do not become violent criminals, because they can distinguish between fiction and reality.

I’m a teacher and I got a headache just reading your post. Will be nothing to do with the content of the books and everything to do with the distractions and time taken up by children bringing in their own things from home. I would be happy for one child to bring in one book to read themselves but i would absolutely say no to a child bringing in books for others. One will get lost/ripped/won’t be enough for everyone who wants one and the teacher would have to deal with that and won’t have time.

THIS!

Primary teachers should be cheering and clapping if a child is reading the back of a packet of crisps!

Anything that encourages reading is a good thing, surely?

Jeeeesus - is that you Miss Killjoy?

It isn't.

It's about a teacher's poor choice of words when banning a book.

I've confiscated 50 shades of grey from a year 7 because that's inappropriate for an 11 year old to be reading in class.

Bunny vs monkey is not inappropriate.

The teacher might not like it. That's okay.
They might not like the disruption. That's also okay.
Criticising a child's choice of appropriate reading material is not okay.

I mean, unless she is some horrible anti-reading sadist, she probably has a reason for saying this which is based on the kids' welfare/smooth running of the class?

I am very opposed to censorship of kids' reading generally, and (within reason) always allowed my daughter to read pretty much what she fancied, even stuff that some might consider too old for her, or too trashy, or whatever - reading is one way to meet and explore the issues of the world before actually having to experience it in gritty reality ....

I don't know the books in question, and if they are aimed at kids I assume they aren't awful. It's not like he was passing round snuff movies and porn.

BUT, she probably LOVES the fact that kids read - all teachers do, even if they don't inherently, because it's one thing they are now judged on (rightly, perhaps).

So one can only assume that the books were causing problems - maybe some highly over protective parents were offended and blaming her? Maybe the kids were reenacting scenes from them, or fighting over them?

I mean, the only way to know for sure, is to politely ask her. But I wouldn't make a big deal of it - it's highly unlikely she intends to be mean.

And presumably if your son really wants to lend the books and his mates want them, you or your partner or whoever picks him up from school could pass them over to the other parents/carers at the school gates?

I was a bit concerned that your son was "crying" about it - sounds like an extreme reaction for 8 on the face of it - are you sure there isn't any coercion or bullying going on, with other kids demanding he shares their books with them? This could even be what the teacher is worried about. Sharing books should be a fun thing for him, not something that reduces him to tears when it can't happen......

Quite.

Bunny v Monkey has been great in bringing the kids who are struggling academically, in with some of the best boy readers in DS's class. They can all get something out of the books (and the likes of Dogman too).

I CAN see a problem with them. They've become so popular in DS's class that the parents have become competitive about ensuring their child has them in school on the day of release.

Frankly though, I do think the teachers need to harness this regardless of the problems they may create - they literally have a craze which centres on reading! For boys! And brings in the boys at the bottom of literacy levels!

This is like gold dust.

Kids will always have some sort of craze going on. But usually they are a genuine problem

Here you have kids wanting to read and encouraging each other to read. And making reading cool.

If the teacher can't find a way to make that work for them, I do seriously wonder why they are in education. They need to do better at management rather than a brainless ban based on the fact they are snobby about the content.

This may mean making sure that the books are put on the list for the school to buy and that kids can't bring their own in without permission.

But why on earth would you actively seek to entrench disengagement with books for boys?

It depends on the book.

I was a P.T. English in a Scottish secondary school. There was a wailing and a gnashing of teeth when I told one 12 yr old that he could not read a Walking Dead graphic novel in class for his personal reading. (Our school was on a campus where the school library was incorporated in the local library.)

I can't now remember which book in the series it was, but it was the one where the Governor has his foster-daughter's zombified head in a glass case.

In the course of that particular graphic novel, he rapes one of the main characters. She enacts her revenge by pinning him to the wooden floor, gouging out one of his eyes and cutting off his penis.

(The tv version missed out the penis removal, as I recall.)

I took it back to the library myself. One of the librarians informed me that - yes, it was in the adult section, but the local library rules are that anyone aged 12 or over is allowed to take books from the adult section.

Call me an old fuddy-duddy, but I wasn't having it in my department.

I don't know the books in question, and if they are aimed at kids I assume they aren't awful.

For those who are unaware.

They are recommended books by the Booktrust and they are recommended for children who have trouble with engagement with books (comic books more generally are recommended for this).

The target age is 6 - 10 years old.

https://www.achuka.co.uk/blog/bunny-vs-monkey-bunny-bonanza-by-jamie-smart/
Read the review by a parent.
(Website dedicated to children's books)

I am trying to find the piece about why Jamie Smart started doing these comics and how he was trying to engage with a certain target audience but I can't find it. It's enlightening.