After the book Just Listen by Sarah Dessen was challenged in Hillsborough County Schools this past week I felt compelled to read it. And to my husbands chagrin I spent our 18th wedding anniversary weekend doing just that… I thoroughly enjoyed it and had a hard time putting it down.
Just Listen is well written with vivid characterizations and a meaningful, moving plot. The different scenarios faced by the characters (including the one read aloud at the School Board meeting) are all unfortunate realities our children are facing everyday. I feel confident this book could be beneficial to students for a number of reasons and do not believe it should be removed from our libraries. However there should be a mature reader label due to the graphic depiction of rape, underage drinking, eating disorders, and other issues thrust upon our youth.
It is not the School Board’s responsibility to review challenged books. This is just my opinion. The current policy for reviewing a challenged book is to have a school site committee review the book and render a decision. I will leave it up to them, as I have confidence that they are intelligent, thoughtful people who will no doubt see the merits of this book.
6 comments:
Hi April,
Thanks for taking the time to read Just Listen and for posting your opinion. All I ask is that people read the book, and not just an excerpt, before making up their minds.
all best wishes,
Sarah Dessen
There is a procedure in place for book challenges. The media specialist convenes a committee each year for this purpose. As a new board member, you may not have been aware of this, but your fellows and the administrators should have been. The parent should have been politely but firmly counseled to contact the school. I find it hard to believe that someone who finds a written passage offensive would read it aloud in a public forum for anything other than grandstanding.
Robert Stewart
Mr. Stewart,
Thank you for your post. I am aware of the process and the committee is doing their job. As I said I felt compelled to read the book so I could have an educated opinion when asked about it as we have been several times since the last board meeting.
As for the parent speaking at he board meeting; she had already voiced her concern and was already aware of the process that had already begun. She still chose to read the passage at the meeting during public comment. All citizens have that right.
The committee will render a decision after the holiday break.
April
Dear Ms. Griffin,
I was very glad to read your posts here and at Sarah Dressen's LiveJournal site. Your public comments in these forums and at the School Board meeting provide a voice of reason, and you set a very positive example by reading the book and providing an informed critique.
Unfortunately, the Times' online story and its comment thread demonstrate that many of the adults who are commenting publicly and thus shaping the community conversation have not read the book.
I’m the artistic director of the Alley Cat Players. In response to the challenge, we are going to host a "Just Listen" performance event at Brandon Regional Library, at 2 pm on Saturday, Dec. 29. We will have professional actors read excepts from the book, an Owen's Playlist listening party, and a postcard art/comments creative session in which the attendees can create hand-drawn postcards inspired by the book. We will then create a digital art display of the attendees’ art and comments on our website at www.AlleyCatPlayers.org.
Our goal is to influence the community conversation about “Just Listen” – to bring it back to the text and encourage concerned adults to follow your example and read the book. We also want to address the very regrettable confusion between “smut” and telling the story of surviving a rape or rape attempt. Being a rapist is wrong; telling others what happened to you if you are attacked is right. Too often girls who tell their story are treated as if they are the problem. Labeling this book as dirty carries the same quality of victim-silencing, in my opinion. (I differ from you as to the “For Mature Readers” label – it seems to me that immature readers who have been touched by issues such as those in the book would benefit from the positive examples of growth and learning described. Many girls don’t get to become mature before sexual assault, eating disorders, or family trauma enter their life.)
This event is intended to inform and entertain the community at large. We share your confidence in and respect for the education/media services professionals on the review committee.
Given your interest in this issue to date and your thoughtful commentary, I wanted to personally invite you to come. The actors and the music will be good, and I hope that parents from the community who are wondering what this book is about will come and get a preview.
Best,
Jo Averill-Snell
alleycatplayers@tampabay.rr.com
I can totally understand the mother's shock at "discovering" the passage in her daughter's book. I can also understand her reaction to it since that reaction was predicated on a parent's cluelessness about what teenagers are exposed to every single day.
Teachers work with kids who come to school knowing about or actually experiencing what was written on that page. We do not label or make judgment - we just try and teach 'em. Sometimes we must inform the authorities.
We will never know if any child finds some "reason to believe" and goes on, knowing that they are not alone in their guilt, grief, or confusion.
I am confident that parental guidance, communication, and understanding of modern urban teenagers will prevail in these instances.
What some parents consider "inappropriate" others may find perfectly all right and still others may have to apply some guidance.
Let's not forget that some teen readers may be going "big deal" - which I might add - is a perfectly legit response when defended.
As a former Reading Supervisor Ms. Elia should have called on her background experience to help "mom" cope.
It is an absolute scandal that MaryEllen Elia reacted and seemed to encourage Jennifer Faliero's misinformed views on the matter of this book. Elia went so far as to imply that she would be working with the state. I expected a much more intelligent response from a former Reading Supervisor. I also expected Elia to know that there is a process in place already to handle book challenges. I feel this is another example of Elia's not knowing what she is doing. I think April Griffin should be commended for not only speaking up at that board meeting and giving some defense for Intellectual Freedom while the others remained mute. Then, she took the time to read the book. That is how an educated person reacts to this situation. Like another person who posted before me, I find it bizaare that a woman who wants to keep children from reading this passage reads it aloud at a board meeting that everyone knows is televised, repeated, and put online. I question the logic of someone who does that. The only person at the board meeting how made sense on this issue was April Griffin. I believe the only reason she was tentative about her defense of Intellectual Freedom was that she had not read the book yet and could not fully defend it without knowing it completely.
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