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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Inappropriate content in school reading books?

26 replies

TheExpatWife · 14/04/2012 13:17

My DS (just turned 7, Yr 2) has brought a book home for reading over the holidays that includes an episode which the characters want to become 'blood sisters' - prick their fingers, mix their blood, but decide not to in the end so write a letter in spit (having rejected 'boogers' to mix 'fluids'). DH and I raised an eyebrow at this - DS won't be finishing the book! He reads quite well so his books are reasonably advanced, but is this normal? The theme and content seemed too much for such a young child - the main story was about ghosts in the bathroom, and I'm not convinced that he's old enough for that, either. Am I really out of date on what junior fiction deals with?

OP posts:

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littleducks · 14/04/2012 13:23

I'm sure this was quite common in books I read as a child, I suppose now with more knowledge about HIV etc I would find it more odd but wouldn't confuscate the story just explain its a silly thing to do.

Original poster

TheExpatWife · 14/04/2012 13:27

It's not so much HIV, it's the idea of pricking fingers etc - not something my 7 year old has come across, and normalising spitting, 'boogers' etc. A bit much for a 7 year old?

OP posts:

simpson · 14/04/2012 13:42

My DS is also in yr2 and a few wks ago he came home with Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde which I thought was not suitable as a0 although he is a good reader, he would not "get" the story b) this is a child who complained that the film he watched in class about the Great fire of London was too scary...

I just wrote in his reading diary that we would not be reading the book as I did not think it was suitable for him.

I would not really be happy about him reading a book you have described either.

I do think its hard to find books suitable for a good reader who may be ahead iyswim as they are not mature enough not understand the story (due to age) but can decode it if that makes sense.

lisaro · 14/04/2012 13:44

What's boogers?

narmada · 14/04/2012 16:34

I think your 7 year old will probably know all about boogers (bogeys) and spitting already :) :)

lisaro · 14/04/2012 16:46

Thank god for that. I had visions of other bodily waste.

CupOfBrownJoy · 14/04/2012 16:49

er, spitting and boogers ARE normal.

Really cannot see your problem, sorry.

nickelhasababy · 14/04/2012 16:52

I'm sorry, but if you don't allow your son to finish the book, then you are practising censorship.

It sounds perfectly normal for a 7-year-old.

I remember kids in real life talking about the blood-sisters/brothers thing when I was in infant school, so it's not a new thing.

and they did it in spit instead? that shows an age-appropriate attitude.

PigeonPie · 14/04/2012 16:59

OP it can be really difficult to find age appropriate books for more advanced readers. My DS1 is in year 1 and we are having the same problem with the appropriateness. I am now trying to remember and find books from my childhood and others.

So far we've got a couple of Littlenose books (by John Grant) from the library, are going to try to get the Arabel and Mortimer series (Joan Aiken) and have found from my old bookcase Mr Bubbas and the Apple Green Engine and Follow that Bus.

We've also started buying the Peter's Railway series which is lovely.

nickelhasababy · 14/04/2012 17:00

ooh, yes, i love the Peter's Railway books too - the ones for older readers have got loads of science in them!

pointythings · 14/04/2012 18:55

booger = snot.

I can't see the problem, the children in the book chose to use spit instead.

PFB?

AChickenCalledKorma · 14/04/2012 19:07

It's a tricky time when your young child is reading ahead of their age. I did return a book that my daughter brought home in year 1. It was a charming "tribal tale" which featured torture and initiation rituals . I've also vetoed a book about spies that she brought back from the library, aged 9. I had a flick through the first few pages and decided that the long list of weaponry carried by the hero (including garotting wire) didn't sound great.

However, Ghosts, slime, snot and blood sound like exactly the sort of things that are age-appropriate for most 7yo boys I know. And I'd be surprised if he was bothered by the finger-pricking.

slacklucy · 14/04/2012 19:31

IME 7 yr old know all about spit, bogeys plus bums, willys, farts & any other bodily parts & noises... and they think its very funny.
Relax i cant believe its going to scar him for life.

nooka · 14/04/2012 19:41

Sounds very Enid Blyton era to me, although I'm sure it would only be boys who would be up to such japes. From what you have said OP I don't think it sounds particularly age inappropriate.

MrsHeffley · 14/04/2012 20:43

God my lot were into boogers waaaaaay before the age of 7.........and still are.

All 3 of mine were very early readers and I never had a problem with reading material.

I'm guessing you've not come across Horrid Henry yet.

sashh · 15/04/2012 07:35

Good grief get a grip - 7 year olds know about blood brothers / sisters.

They also know that if you make an agreement and seal it by spitting on your hand and shake hands with another the agreement cannot be got out of.

PigeonPie · 15/04/2012 09:11

TheExpatWife, I don't think you are over reacting about inappropriate content. However, you are lucky if this is the first time you've come across this!

I wish that children could be left to be children for much longer than they are now with all these books which push them on to 'grow up'. Why can't they just have lovely stories?

Quite a lot of the reading books DS1 has brought home in the last term, he can read, but he doesn't 'get' the story so doesn't comprehend them in the same way that he would understand an age-appropriate story such as Littlenose or Peter's Railway. Fortunately he has little experience of bullying or stealing and these stories and subjects, whilst great for the age range they're designed for, are not good for KS1 advanced readers.

RueDeWakening · 15/04/2012 20:45

You can return it unread with a note saying the content wasn't suitable?

I've done this once so far (DD only in Reception but reading ahead of age) when she brought home a Michael Morpurgo book which included bullying, a dog that was chained up, starving and being mistreated, the family dog dying, child living with grandparent and no mention of parents. This for a child who sobbed her way through The Tigger Movie and every other sodding film she's ever seen even the crappy Barbie ones on NickJr . The teacher didn't raise an eyebrow, just replaced it with a different and less emotionally challenging one.

goingmadinthecountry · 15/04/2012 21:26

Wait till you get to A level! (Am cynical mum of 4, from 18 down to 8 - I now use everything as an educational point. Main gripe - bad grammar!)

TunipTheVegemal · 15/04/2012 21:28

They do the blood brothers/sisters thing in one of the Swallows And Amazons books.

LilRedWG · 15/04/2012 21:33

I was volunteering at a local school and listening to a Y2 child reading when I had to explain what a catheter is.

festi · 15/04/2012 22:08

instead of being in uproar why not use it to educate you child about cultural history, health and safety and of course blood born diseases, he will be all the happier and knowlegable for it. I dont see the content as inapprorpriate at all for 7

I really apreciate my advanced reading dd (6), she has far more insight and knowledge as a result, she is still happy and imaginative if not more for it.

The only time I felt the need to interviene is when she cried at the thought of an 80 yaer old grandma trapped 80ft up in a tree in her car after a car crash, for a whole weekend from a book about amazing survival she had brought home from school. I told her to skip the page I did not record it in the book but dd told her teacher that it might be a bit to sad for her class.

PigeonPie · 15/04/2012 22:10

I'd say that Swallows and Amazons was for 9 / 10 year olds though, not 6 / 7. There is such a developmental difference between KS1 and KS2.

simpson · 15/04/2012 22:43

I do also think it depends on the individual child, I know my DS (6) would not want to read a book like the OP has stated.

But it is hard to find books that are suitable for readers who are ahead iyswim.

The treetops range has been a godsend for us and DS is working his way through them now, but he has not has a school book for over 4wks (since I sent one book back as unsuitable)

MrsHeffley · 16/04/2012 09:45

We did/are reading Magic Tree House,The Trouble With daisy books,Corgi Pups,Happy Cat,Dinosaur Cove,Secret Seven,Flat Stanley,Horrid Henry Early Readers,Young Corgis,Rainbow Fairies,Amelia Jane,Magic Pony,Anna Hibiscus,Ottoline,Ivy and Bean,Mrs Pepperpot,easier Jacqueline Wilson books eg Dinosaur's Packed Lunch,DKS Sophie books,Yuck books and a shed load of picture books in rec/Y1/Y2.

Never had a problem with finding appropriate content. Having said that if you have a problem with a Y2 child(soon to be year 3) reading about boogers and pricking fingers you may not like some of the above.

I think we need to give kids credit though and remember that books which contains the non mundane, slightly naughty and grubby content are often the very books kids love to read.By year 2 it's time to let kids have more freedom as it's more about them choosing books they like than books which we would prefer they read.

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