Today I had to do one of those things Mom's are notorious for doing.  

At Cheyenne's Junior High they have a reading program called "Accelerated Reader",  books are given a grade level and assigned a point value.  The students are required to get a set amount of points each quarter.  Well this sounds great and all but last night I found a huge problem with this system.

Cheyenne went to the AR list and chose a book in her level and she needed 11 points to finish her goal.  So she picked a book, "Some Like it Hot", by Zoey Dean,  and brought it home.  Last night as she is reading we discover that this book has very foul language and drops the "F" bomb in many places.  I of course was very upset that Cheyenne would find this book in her school library.  I told Cheyenne she was not allowed to finish reading the book even if it meant that she got an a bad grade in the class. 

 Well she was upset because now what was she going to read to get her points.  I pulled up the approved list and we could not find a book in our home that they had a test for.  We looked for:  Nancy Drew books, Shannon Hale books, Fairest, etc...  No luck.  She needed to be able to take a test today.  

Well as the Mother who can't keep her mouth shut I simply asked, "Why did you wait until the last possible moment to finish your goal?"  (Not a good decision at that time.)  She was already crying and worried about how her Honors English score would be affected by this, so I should have just said comforting words and tried to find a solution.  I get that,  I just haven't been able to teach my mouth to do that :-)

After a lot of discussion about why books of this caliber should never be read and how it is necessary to protect our minds, I made the decision that I would be sitting in the Office of the Junior High before school started today.  Thus I found myself in the situation that many Moms are notorious for.  

They first sent me to visit with the Librarian, she was polite and professional, but not very concerned.  "We stock books for the students that there is a demand for."  Hello, the students want to read these books because they feel like they are getting away with going to an "R-rated" Movie without Mom and Dad knowing.  What message is the school sending to their students? 

 If you use foul language at school you are put in detention or suspended.  If you participate the activities that are offensive in this book, you face expulsion.  The school in essence is saying we have rules for that kind of behavior, but we will allow you to check a book out of our library that promotes said behavior.  What is wrong with this picture?  Help, how many times do we hear:  I don't know why they are behaving so badly. 

 News Flash:  Our youth behave in a manner reflecting what our media portrays as acceptable and normal.  The Family has to fight tooth and nail to teach and protect our youth.

Well I didn't get anywhere with the Librarian.   I was told that I was very lucky to have a daughter that is intelligent and willing to talk to me about what she is reading.  That in the future we should read the same book and discuss it.  She thought that reading was a very important way for students to be exposed to lifestyle choices and to learn about them.  I disagree.  Our minds are a very powerful tool.  We must keep them as pure as possible.  When you read, not only are the words put in your mind but your mind creates a visual image.  Many times these images are so powerful that when you see your favorite book made into a movie you can not accept that the main character looks the way the movie portrays.

I politely left the office went home and called my sister who is education and I knew would know if my concerns were founded and what my next step should be.  She echoed my thoughts and told me I needed to speak with the Principal.  I got onto Barnes & Nobles website and pulled up the book in question so I could read the reviews and be more prepared when I spoke with the Principal.  Wouldn't you know it, the reviews made the book sound like a great read.  I did discover that it belonged in the Young Adult range of readers.  Junior High is very far from young adult.

I returned to the school and met with the Principal.  She was very nice and understood my concern.  She herself is going to read the book and make a decision based upon how she feels.  I offered  (as per Lannie's suggestion) to be of assistance to the Librarian, who doesn't have time to read all of the books the library gets, and read and review books to help them know what was in them before they made them available to the students.  I asked her if she would also consider making a Young Adult section so that the students know the potential of the books they would be reading from the section.  She agreed that it would be helpful.

She said that would be a great idea and thought they might pursue that.  I hope so. 

Sometimes it takes the "Mama Bear" in us to make a difference.