Realization

I've seen the Arthur show on PBS. Didn't think anything of it.

Until we got the books form the library for a family reading program they run every year from Jan-Mar ... you have to read 3 chapter books aloud and get a free book. This years freebie is Alice in Wonderland and I know for AmbleSide it will be a free read book selection for Year 3.

Our library bundles books and has them up front to catch your eye and DS chose the Arthur bundle ... he enjoys watching the show called Buster's Travels on PBS as well.

The first book was one about dinosaurs and of course had a 135 million years ago reference so we exchanged it for a different Arthur book.

I enjoyed the Arthur Makes the Team book and 1001 Dads book but the one I was looking forward to reading disappointed me.

Scare-Your-Pants-Off-Club ... I thought it was going to be about pranking each other or something ... but instead it seemed more like propaganda to help parents cave on certain books.

It starts with the kids waiting in line on a Saturday morning to get a copy of the latest scare your pants off club book (with stories about witches and zombies) at the library and the librarian announces the books have been pulled from the shelves due to a group of parents who protested and that that group will hold a rally on the steps the next day. The kids are bummed and get a petition started to ban this parents group. Turns out it's one of the kids in their group whose parents don't like the books. Until they find out there daughter lied about having a nightmare caused by the books and it turns out the author was her dad's 3rd grade teacher and she talks him into at least reading the book and seeing for himself.

Here's some quotes:

page 30 Arthur asks a lady to sign his petition and she's about to when she says it depends on the books and that she wouldn't want to go against his parent's wishes ((yes that was smart)) so she asks Arthur what his dad says about these books and here is the dads viewpoint, "my parents like me to read different things. my father says it's like the food groups. it's healthy to have a little bit of everything." the lady likes the answer and then Arthur tells her the name of the book and she says maybe I can talk to this group and takes off.

page 40-41:

Arthur is asking his parents for advice because now he can either protest or support the parents group against the books because they are taking all who side with them to some fancy amusement park. His mom tells him that he has to weigh both sides and do what he thinks is right even if it means making a sacrifice. Arthur then wonders why sticking up for what you believe in has to be so difficult. He tells his dad, "I wish there was a book where I could look up the answers to hard questions." and his dad replies, "That would be a good book to have, probably a best seller."

For us at this point was a great place to stop and coax an answer out of DS as to this book that Arthur's family sadly doesn't believe exists.

page 51-55:
at this point we're at the rally and the lady Arthur talked to on page 30 shows up asking the leader of the parents group publicly and on the spot if he's even read any of the so called questionable books. The leader says he wouldn't read them even if he was paid and the lady tells him she sees his common sense has failed him. Then she says, "Can you appreciate how hard a writer works to create stories kids will like to read? Each story is like a seed. If a child reads one, the seed may grow into the desire to read another. That's something every writer hopes for." then the leader accuses this past teacher of his of not knowing anything about being a writer and asks what she's written and she replies, "Nothing you've read considering your 'common sense' and all. But since you've asked, I'm the author of the Scare Your Pants off club books." Later the writer/teacher tells the group leader, "maybe you can take your foot out of your mouth long enough to listen to one of my stories. That way you can make an informed decision about who should be reading them."



Does anyone else sense a defense or promotion for other sinister books out there? And the copyright on the story is 1998 ... not sure where that fits in with the HP bashing .... I don't keep up with that stuff and didn't have a child back then and personally am not interested in HP books ...