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 think teacher just doesn't want any distractions in classroom, which is fairly reasonable.

Speak to her and get to the bottom of precisely why she has told him not to bring them in first. Perhaps she thinks they’re encouraging silly behaviour? I haven’t read them but I know some teachers felt Horrid Henry was guilty of this a few years ago.

I’m an English Lit lecturer desperately trying to keep the subject alive so no books are off limits with my DC, honestly anything we can do to keep kids reading is fine by me.

BvM is a gateway drug to Flember.

Flember is also by Jamie Smart.
Its a real life 'proper' old fashioned book.

Go in and talk to the teacher if you want clarification. Mumsnet is not going to give you any answers for a decision the teacher has made for an individual class in a particular school.

Most of all they are cartoons strips.It I'd all dialogue.where is the descriptive writing, where are the literary devices

So people think graphic novels/comics can't use literary devices.

Crikey 🫠

If graphic novels are so dreadful and not "proper books" why is this on just about every recommended reading list for GCSE/A-level ?

Is there a rule where children shouldn’t really be bringing in stuff from home? I can understand if that’s the case? If not, just have an informal discussion with the teacher about why it’s such a problem- maybe it’s too distracting in class? If it’s a matter of personal taste, the teacher is being unreasonable but is it worth causing an issue with the teacher? Your child is the one who has to deal with them daily and it might just be easier to explain to him why it can’t be brought in.

Exactly.

Why don't you donate a set to the class library.

Hi everyone, thanks again for the excellent debate... Just a quick update to say it was a bit of a storm in a teacup, as next day the teacher was OK with the bringing of other books (Three Musketeers full length novel and Pokemon annuals) so perhaps it was about Bunny v Monkey possibly encouraging "the sillies" as, someone put it (it probably would!). We're still fans of Jamie Smart and Dav Pilkey books and happy to recommend. Also anything by Philip Reeve and Sarah Mcintyre, their books are adorable.

I hadn't realised bringing books in was contentious, though now can see that it could cause stress. Our teacher last year welcomed it, and DS was running his little book club without incident for most of the year. It wasn't just graphic novels, but all sorts of books, some relevant to what they were studying (they were allowed to choose their reading materials during reading time, so it didn't interfere with other set work).

Anyway, cheers, everyone! xx ;-)

Omg 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 (huge Jamie Smart fans here)

@alixpally Jamie Smart has just found out about this thread and posted about it on twitter - he’d like to get in touch !

Jamie Smart twitter

Amazing 😍

😍

Jamie Smart is a good 'un.

He's doing lots of work promoting about reaching kids who are reluctant readers.

He doesn't NEED to do this.

Bunny v Monkey shifted it's millionth copy last week.

@alixpally I hope you see this!

Haha this is amazing! Our DS will be in awe... Just checked out the Twitter thread. This is very cool and exciting indeed!

Make yourself known! Are you on Twitter?

Just pmed you @alixpally
Will save you outing yourself on twitter

Yes of course it is fine for the teacher to not the kids in her class to bring their books from home for the class to read. If all the kids ended up doing this (bringing in their books for their friends to read) - it would be really disruptive.

Is class reading time where the whole class read the same book or where Children read their own books?

It's not up to you or your child to dictate this at all.

Why dont you arrange a 'book club' which doesnt impeach on the actual school day?

Alipally get your son to write or draw something to Jamie. I'd be great for your son and I bet it would be appreciated by Jamie too.

Hope you manage to get in touch.

Thanks for alerting me to this, RedToothBrush and TheKeatingFive! I'm not on Twitter at the mo (too distracting) but am getting my other half to reach out. We'll get DS to draw something and craft a message when he gets home from school, and let you know how it goes.. XX

Aw this is amazing, your DS will be so excited!

Apparently MNHQ have contacted Jamie so hopefully they will liaise.

Oh fairplay to MNHQ!

Absolute bullshit. A teacher who actively discourages reading needs reporting to the head. go in. Kick off.

Hi guys, here's an update as promised... Jamie reached out, and he drew a picture for DS (attached below, name removed). He also sent a lovely message pointing out that comics are not just toilet humour, but also introduce kids to scientific and philosophical ideas (like interdimensional travel), psychological concepts and more.. His new book The Great Big Glitch is out next month.

Sorry, not much of a techie... here hopefully is the whole picture.