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Thursday, January 30, 2014

Annoying Adults at The Library


The other day at the library I overheard a mom telling her son that he wasn't allowed to get the books he was looking at because they were beneath his reading level. May I just say how mad that made me? He wasn't older than seven years. If he wants to read a book that's "beneath" him, why not? As long as he enjoys what he reads, why not let him read it? If he doesn't like what he's reading now, then he probably won't like reading when he is older!

I'm very lucky that my mom has never stopped me from reading a book because she thought it wasn't "good enough" for me. I've never been allowed to read books that had a lot of content that I was not ready for, but she never told me that a book was too easy for me. Or that a book was too stupid. Or that a book was not good enough for me. And it makes me mad that the mom didn't think her son should read a book that he was interested in, just because it wasn't his reading level.

I understand he if needed to get a book for school in his age range, I do get that. But would it hurt for the mom to let him get that other book? Our library has a fairly high amount of books you're allowed to have out at a time, there probably would have been enough room to get it for him and be able to get the other books too.

I'm not really sure why I wrote this post. It's not really a What Do You Think? Post because I don't really know if there is that much to talk about. But this was really bugging me and I thought it might be good for me to write it down here. But if you all have an opinion about this post, then feel free to tell me your thoughts here!

4 comments:

  1. I see that happen a LOT at my library. I shelve books there and I cannot tell you how many times that I had parents ask where the "Children's Classics" section. And when they learn that section doesn't exist, the look on their faces say that they are really surprised ("There's one at Barnes & Noble!!!"). -__- I think kids should be allowed to read what they want. In fact, I think that kids are better off reading below their reading level than reading way above it, like the way many parents feel like their child should do. Reading difficult makes reading a whole lot less fun, and thus the child could lose his/her love of reading. Not good.

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    1. Really?! How do not get annoyed after awhile with them?! You have way more manners than I do, then! :) YES! If they have a hard time with the books the parents want them to read, then their not going to want to read at all after awhile! And that just makes me feel bad for them all. :( Thank you for commenting on this, it's interesting to hear everyone's thoughts about it! :)

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  2. That's horrible! I get wanting to challenge your child, but can't they have that AND a "younger" book? I mean, I'm not well-versed in kids' books and their levels and whatnot, but the kid is around 7, is there much of a difference that early?! It's great that you let it out here because it's fun to chime in! Poor kid.

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    1. YES! I mean, I get if he has to get that one book, but if he wants an "easier" one too, then why not?! I don't know a lot about that reading range either, but it's not that different, at least from the little I know about it! Thank you for commenting on this, it's fun to hear everyone's thoughts about it! :)

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