Is this suitable reading for a yr 5 child?

[mynaughtylittlesister]

Or am I being a bit sensitive?

DD brought her new reading book home yesterday,(hands up I didn't hear her read ) Tonight she read to me and bearing in mind she is 10. Her reading book said a good number of times about this boy who had started to stick his middle finger up, to a) his Mother, b) A little old lady. Etc. Didn't like this much, but know that other children use it. (Just thought Hmm could have used different ways of expressing himself.)

The next thing that really upset me was the language or should I say swearing! He described himself as dipshit.

She has only got to Chapter 6 and I have told her to stop reading the book. Will I look a fool if I go into Sch tomorrow and bring it to their attention?

I do know she will read stuff literature in Secondary Sch, but she will be older then.

No. I would be mad. THere is SO much fantastic literature for children, why give them trash to read? No need at all imo!

Message withdrawn

Lovely! Not. I wouldn't like that book, either.

(I don't hear mine read often now they're 9 and 11. Don't tell anyone.)

That is exactly what I thought! Was just a tad worried that I was over sensitive, and not wanting DD to be exposed quite yet to unsavoury literature.

I must just add it is an American book, but even still!

Accidentally drop it in a puddle, then complain to the school, what is it teaching?!!!!
I'm appalled, there is so much good children's fiction. Get some Susan Cooper, Diana Wynne Jones or Joan Aiken...good stories and written in an excellent literary style.
And ask for all American books to be taken off the shelves as American books: don't recognise commas or semi-colons, have appalling grammar; they also tend to use the phrase "gotten" far too much. Don't start me on their habit of turning nouns into verbs when they are too lazy to use complex sentence construction...oh, and not to mention all the sentences are subject, verb, object, full stop. Dreadful stuff.

Feel a bit better now! I do not want to seem a pain as I actually work in the same Sch.

I'd be fuming.

Totally not acceptable. What are they thinking?

Surely they can't be aware of the content? You have to bring it to their attention - then insist they remove them.

What is the book?

Is it any good?

I think it is fine if she's enjoying it. I think you are over-reacting perhaps.

DS1 also Y5 brought home a Robert Muchamore book with light swearing and general carry-on in it. And I had a moment of 'oh my, oh my' but he loved it.

So I left it.

And now I think of it, in Y4 he brought home an account of a girl's abusive upbringing in China.

And I thought 'oh my, oh my' but he was fascinated, so I left it.

I'm generally opposed to meddling in what children read actually. You should let her decide if she likes it or not.

It is called " A boy who lost his face."

I do agree with her reading a wide reading matter, but my DD is a very young 10 yr old. She believes in Tooth Fairies and FC.

But Louis Sachar is FABULOUS! My ds loved Holes, it's a top book.

Hmmm.

What does she think of it? Isn't that more important than what you think?

I don't think a book is going to corrupt her, I don't think books do that. It might open her eyes a bit, she might not 'get it' or find it frightening, in which case she should change it?

But I wouldn't be cross about it, I wouldn't be cross with the school. They are quite right to have Louis Sachar on their bookshelves.

TBH, when I said that I didn't like what the book was implying and wanted her to stop reading it, she was relieved as she was finding it a bit slow moving! Saying that she did enjoy "Theres a boy in the girls bathroom".

Ah yes, well that's good then isn't it? You can change it, but don't be cross with the school because there is probably a 10 y-o boy in Y5 who would adore it.

I think that one is quite young adult though isn't it? Occult or something? So perhaps you could write in - 'Can she change please? She isn't really getting on with it, and some of the themes are bit adult for her.' And then they'd know not to hand it out to the wrong person!

Is that the Louis Sachar book they tried to ban in America?

On that principle alone it MUST be widely distributed to all primary schools.

I am not really that cross with the Sch, just a little taken a back. Poor DD wouldn't say the word (she was reading out aloud to me at the time)

Oh she sounds nice!

When ds1 brought home his swearing book he was DELIGHTED. And kept reading it out loud and laughing. Your dd is very well-behaved.

god I love Louis Sachar
bloody worship him

Have to say, I had never heard of him until DD brought th other book home.

I think the first time your child reads something with more adult themes is going to make you go or

but as 100 says the important thing is if she enjoyed it or not. I doubt it is the first time she has heard swearing or seen rude gestures, you know? You coudl discuss how this behaviour affects her feelings for the character - it's fine for you to give your opinion about this kind of thing, ie "if I saw a child sticking their finger up like that I would feel they were very rude and quite ignorant", or whatever it is you do feel. She may have different ideas of course!

Louis Sachar is a great author - please don't let this put you off his books.

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But this is a good book Doodle. Just because you may find the content too ripe for a 10 y-o that doesn't make it a bad book.

I don't think reading Young Adult type fiction at 10 erodes a child's sense of their childhood. Not at all, if anything it feeds it. If a child doesn't understand or like this kind of book, then they won't read it or pursue it. If it's an eye-opener or a bit thrilling, then that is all it is.

I think you are wrong on this. Though I do see that some people are more comfortable with this than others, and I think it depends on your child and their maturity. My Y5 son reads Horowitz Horror stories with great relish, he loves it. He's still a child.

Because the words are written down on the page, it doesn't mean he thinks it's fine to turn your grandmother into a zombie or to shatter mirrors or to smear blood down the walls.

It feeds the imagination, it gives you a sense of the world beyond what you know, it's an adventure.

The OP's child didn't seem to like it - though she may just have been picking up on what the OP said. So she should read something else.

Nobody is at fault for having this book on the bookshelf though.