A Moral Dilemma Part II

I wonder if, when all is said and done, people will think, "So what was all the fuss about?" It's possible. Maybe even probable. I do know there is some secrecy, not like there was with Harry Potter or Eragon, but secrecy nonetheless, and for good reason. And I checked again, just to be sure, and all the online booksellers still list it as pre-order and there are still zero reviews online.

My review is written but unpublished.

Here's part two of yesterday's moral dilemma:

After my class brainstormed possible solutions on Monday, I had them write a paragraph explaining what each thought we should do. Then I had them add what they wanted to do. And isn't it interesting, we noted, that what we should do and what we want to do can sometimes be very different? There were some creative answers. One girl wanted to "Read it and tell everyone. Braggin' to the world, baby!" Another girl apparently wished the whole situation would simply disappear. "I just want to put the book in a sack and bury it."

Yesterday, on Tuesday, we discussed what people had written and came up with the three most common responses.

1. Read the book, keep it to ourselves, and not make a big deal out of it.
2. Call the bookstore, explain the situation, and see what they say.
3. Contact the publisher and see what they have to say.

The debate continued. One thing we noticed is that with each step away from ourselves, the stakes seemed to get higher.

1. If we read the book but later learn we shouldn’t have had it, we might feel guilty.
2. If we contact the bookstore, someone’s job might be in jeopardy.
3. If we contact the publisher, they could get mad at the bookstore.

We even discussed worst case scenarios, including, but not limited to, children’s book publishers, lawyers, librarians, and local law enforcement storming the classroom and tossing yours truly in the clink.

When we finally voted on the three choices, over half the class believed calling the bookstore was the right thing to do. So out came the cell phone and that’s exactly what we did.

I spoke with a different employee. I briefly explained the situation and told what we knew about the release date. She said she knew exactly the books to which I was referring and repeated what the person who sold me the book said: There was no indication from the publisher that the books were not to be sold until a specific date. In fact there were other books that arrived in the same shipment that did have a specific release date, but these did not.

Then she said what my class was hoping to hear. “Go ahead and read the book. Nobody’s getting in any trouble.” So we did – well, we started anyway. We’re now five chapters in and had a great lesson today on making judgments, both concerning our situation and with plot developments! (Just in case anyone is wondering, we did not abandon our current read aloud book. How could we? Abbey just snuck out with the video camera in an attempt to catch Dusty Muleman mid-Flush.)

Personally, I’m still not completely convinced I should have the book. If there was one website out there with “ships in one business day” or one review online that said something other than “OMG!!! I totally can not WAIT!!!”, I’d be more at ease.

So as a teacher I made a decision. Was it the right one? And what should I do as a book reviewer? It’s certainly a book I recommend. Should I add my review to Help Readers Love Reading! immediately or wait until the release date? Does Part II of the story influence your opinion?

A Moral Dilemma

My class has been waiting anxiously (and not so patiently) for the upcoming release of a certain children's book. They've had the release date circled on the calendar. I've tried to configure our read aloud schedule so that we'll finish our current book the day this book is released so not a single day is wasted.

But I already have the book, pre-release date. It's sitting next to my computer. See it? It's right there by my wireless mouse.

This weekend, on a whim, I stopped by a bookstore to buy a newspaper and ask about possibly reserving myself a copy. "I'm hoping to put a book on hold," I said. "It's supposed to be released on [such-and-such a date], but I wanted to make sure I reserved a copy before the kids in my class bought them all."

"What's the title and author?" asked the woman behind the counter.

I gave her the information, and she began to write it down. Suddenly she stopped and thought for a second, then walked over to a nearby counter and brought over a stack of books. "Is this the one?" she asked holding up the top copy.

"Uh, yyyyep. That's it," I said as she placed the copy on the counter in front of me. "I didn't think it was supposed to be released until [such and such a date]. Are you going to sell me a copy today?"

"We didn't receive any note saying we weren't supposed to sell it until a specific date, so if you want it, it's yours."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. No problem."

Okay, so the conversation might not be word for word, but that's pretty much they way it went down. I accepted her word and bought the book. I’d recently had a similar experience, actually. Our school hosted a Scholastic book fair a week or two before Scat by Carl Hiaasen was scheduled to be released. So it happens, I thought. It’s not like we’re dealing with Harry Potter and the Armored Car Delivery.

But something didn’t seem right, so I started do a little more digging online. There were no reviews available anywhere. None. No review sites. No blog posts. I hit every blog in the tri-county area, but no reviews. (I just checked again...nothing yet.)

Next I checked the online booksellers. Amazon? Pre-order. Barnes and Noble? Pre-order. Borders, Powells, Books-a-Million? Pre-order, pre-order, pre-order.

So on Monday I showed the book to my class and predictably, they freaked. I also shared what happened at the bookstore and what I knew about release dates, using the Harry Potter books as an example. And I asked, “What should we do?”

Their answers ranged from “Who cares what we should do?!? Let’s talk about what we want to do!” to “You have to return that book right away.” Kids suggested contacting the bookstore or the publisher. Some said that if I bought the book, it’s mine to do with as I please. Another followed that comment with concern for the bookstore. What if the store or the employee got in trouble for an honest mistake? But what if it was really the publisher’s mistake and they forgot the note about not selling the book? Or, said one, what if we’re just letting the prairie dog tunnel get too tall and we have to squash it down? (He was aiming for “mountain out of a molehill.” He gets an A for effort, anyway, and another A for adding positively to the discussion.)

I also admitted that I’d love to publish a review on Help Readers Love Reading!. They know about the site, and they have enough technological savvy to know publishing a review on a book no one else has yet might bring additional attention to the website.

So teachers, what should I do? How would you handle the situation with your students? And you teacher/blogger/book reviewers out there, what would you do? Publish a review and scoop the competition? Wait? Is it really a big deal or just a prairie dog tunnel?

Newspaper Columns

I've mentioned this over on the mother ship, but I write a parenting column for the local newspaper. Books happen to find their way in quite often. Once my daughter and I had a conversation at the dinner table about Clementine, Judy, and Ramona like they were real kids at our school. (Well they all are, technically, at our school. In book form anyway.) That made the column.

Here's two links to my latest column.

COLUMN: WiiOnes caught up in world of video games, electronics or here's the printable version.

So Why Another Blog?

That's a good question, isn't it? As I wrote in the blog description, I created Help Readers Love Reading! as a way to keep track of books I recommend when I do school visits or presentations to teachers and to give people additional titles. The number one request I hear when I present is, "Give us more books, please!" I want visitors to Help Readers Love Reading! to find just that. Books.

Help Readers Too! is an outlet for me to give additional thoughts and opinions about children's literature, teaching, reading, writing, the National Football League, David Crowder*Band, or whatever strikes my fancy. When the Newbery "controversy" was raging last fall, this would have been the place for me to give my $0.02, and believe me, I had a pocket's worth of change to throw around in that discussion.

And since:

A. This is my first post, and...
B. I'm not sure if I'll ever post here again, and...
C. I'm curious to see what it will look like with a post, and...
D. I got nothing else, really...

I guess I'll publish this post, play with the settings, and see what I got.