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?