Lessons in the Library

Last week I collaborated on a unit for 6th graders studying censorship.  They had all read the book Americus and were mostly in agreement that book censorship was a bad idea.  When I attended the American Association of School Librarian (yes, that's a real thing and yes it was awesome) conference in Columbus at the beginning of the month Heidi Hayes Jacobs encouraged us to create lessons around current events and since there has been much controversy about

A Fine Dessert we decided to have the kids read the book and decide if the book was appropriate and worthwhile for elementary schools.

I first read this book over the summer and thought it was beautiful.  The story takes us through four generations of families making the same dessert, blackberry fool.  I showed the book to our Home Ec. teacher and thought it would be perfect to read with her classes before making the dessert with the class.  Then at the beginning of this school year I read it aloud to my Mock Caldecott Group and I felt uncomfortable during the slavery scene but I quickly moved onto the next book in our stack to read that day.  Soon thereafter I started to read about the concerns online and I looked back over the book and agreed that in my opinion slavery was glossed over and made to look pleasant and should have been left out of a book with this cheerful tone. 

So, that is how we ended up analyzing it with the 6th graders. 
Here's what I learned from that.  It IS indeed our job as teachers, librarians and parents to protect kids from harmful ideas.  Not in the way we usually think of with books about controversial topics but when the books are telling lies.
After I read the book aloud to the kids (something all kids love and we stop doing much too early!) and we discussed the issue of how slavery was presented, we had the students talk in their groups and vote.  About half of the groups decided that the book was an inaccurate portrayal of slavery and should not be read to young students who might then think that slavery was okay.
What shocked and saddened me were the groups who decided it should stay with the justification that at least one group in each class gave: it was a "gentle introduction to slavery". Oh no. 

We need to avoid gentle introductions to things that are horrible and unjust.  We need to avoid lying to children and ourselves about things that make us uncomfortable.  We need to talk more about these issues and not ignore the uncomfortable feelings.  We need to listen to each other.