A Pumpkin Patch of Book Characters

This year I'm running a contest for the school where I work -- a pumpkin decorating contest. Children's Book Week is in November and in celebration, I invited my students to each bring in a pumpkin decorated as a favorite character from children's literature. So far, the results have been terrific and so creative and I expect a lot of kids will be working on their entry this weekend.

We have a Junie B. Jones pumpkin, the Little Mermaid, the three little pigs, Capt. Underpants, Harry Potter, Mary Poppins, Curious George, Chester the Raccoon from The Kissing Hand, Make Way For Ducklings (one of my personal favorites), the Cat in the Hat, Frankenstein, Arthur, the Rainbow Fish (another personal favorite), Cinderella and so on. At first only a handful of kids brought in pumpkins but when the kids saw what others were doing, many of them decided to get in on the fun, too. The rule is that it must be a character from children's literature -- no Sponge Bob Square Pants, Hannah Montana, WWF figures or characters from the Simpsons.

My favorite of favorites, I guiltily admit, is Capt'n Underpants. I know the student, Brianna, and she did her own work. I think it's fabulous. Anyhow, this is one fun way to promote children's books and to get the kids thinking about literature. Maybe in the spring we'll do Easter eggs.

Columbus Day

Last Monday was Columbus Day and the kindergartners spent some time learning about Christopher Columbus and his famous voyage. As a few of them waited for the bus in their Columbus style three cornered paper hats, I asked them a few questions.

"Do you know who Columbus was?" I asked.

"Yes," said Richie, "he was a guy and he discovered America."

"And he had three boats," offered Rocco.

"Why did he need three boats?"

"Cause," said Rocco, "he had a lot of stuff."

"Yeah," said Richie, "and a lot of friends who wanted to go with him."

Hmmm. "Do you know the name of his boats?"

"I do!" said Rocco, raising his hand (guess he forgot we weren't in class). "The Nina , the Tita and ...." He stopped to whisper a question to Richie. "And the Santa Margarita."

A girl sitting in the back of the line overheard him. "No, it's the Ninja, the Pinta and the Santa Marina. And everybody thought they were gonna go over the end of the world."

"You're right -- almost." Then the bus arrived and we had to put an end to our discussion. So goes a little slice of world history according to five year olds. I keep wondering when the teachers are going to explain Amerigo Vespucci to the kids. The only problem is, Vespucci didn't have a holiday named after him -- just a country and a continent.

Banned Book Week Hits Home

In honor of Banned Book Week, every September I do a unit on banned and challenged books with my sixth graders. I begin by showing them some books that have either been challenged or banned. Then I ask the kids what they think the books have in common. I offer a Hershey bar to anybody who has the right answer -- a giant one. The kids drool. "They all have words," offers one boy. "They have pages," offers somebody else.

"Obviously," I tell him. "Go deeper, beyond the parts of a book." Their answers range from "They're all fiction" to "They're all award winners." None of them ever get it right. Just in case, though, I have that giant Hershey bar on hand. I hold it up. Often. Honestly, I'd love to give it away sometime.

After many wrong answers, I have to tell them these are all books that have either been banned or challenged. We discuss the difference between a ban and a challenge. Then I pass out a bibliography of the top one hundred banned or challenged children's books of all time. The kids tally up how many they've read from the list. The list ranges from Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree to Harry Potter. Then we get to the more pressing questions. The biggest one is always "Why?" The next biggest question is "Who are these people?" I break the kids into small groups and they make a list of possible reasons for banning books and a list of who the censors might be. We discuss it. Then we delve into the repercussions of censorship. The kids enjoy the discussion. Later, they creep up to me and whisper "Can we borrow any of those books?"

"Sure," I whisper back, "Help yourself."

Okay, the topic of banned books makes for a lively discussion. And I admit, it hooks the kids and gets them reading. By sixth grade, their interest in reading is often waning. I'd stand on my head if I actually thought it would get them to open a book.

Now I work in two school libraries. A few years ago, the district where I worked changed over from a once a week special schedule to a six day rotation for the special area teachers. So, I'm now in one school for four days out of the cycle and in the other school for two days out of the cycle. Last Friday, when I came to one of the two schools, I found two copies of Judy Blume's book, Blubber on the desk with a note attached to them. "Remove these books," it said. "Some bad language."

It sounded like a joke. The day before, I'd finished my unit on banned and challenged books with my sixth graders. Now I was looking the issue straight in the face. Since it was the end of the day, I didn't get a chance to speak with the principal who wrote the note. I will speak to her though. Next week I hope.

Yeah, I know it would be easier to just remove the books from the shelf. Don't rock the boat. Keep everybody happy. And certainly it sounds innocent enough. I feel pretty certain that some student brought Blubber home and began reading it, came across the bad word, then showed it to her mom. Her mom showed it to the principal who decided that the best way to handle it was to remove the book from the library. There, problem solved. But this is no way to deal with the problem. Do we cave in to every parent who doesn't like a book and wants it removed from the library? No, of course not otherwise we may not have a library that consists of anything but pablum. The principal is honestly a very sweet and kind person. I like her very much. She probably thinks she is doing the best thing on behalf of the students. She's wrong. Once we open the door to censorship, there's no telling when it may stop. What's next? Fairy tales? Poetry? Really, I do hope we can find a peaceful resolution. I hope I don't have to contact outside groups. The ALA offers support.

So, anybody care to share their thoughts? If you were in my shoes, what would you do?