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My review is written but unpublished.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?