The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements
2006
Weight: 4 oz
Method of Disposal: Lending Library
Andrew Clements is a prolific children's book author who just passed away last year at the age of 70. I, of course, have several of his books from when I worked in the Children's Department. He was a popular one.
Parents ask for recommendations a lot, and I always wanted to know what I was recommending. I knew what people were buying, but I wanted to know more than that. I feel like a lot of books try to shape the minds of children, and a lot of parents do not have time to read their children's books. This can be good for kids raised in closed-minded, rigid households. I, sometimes, imagined I was handing their child some kind of salvation. A little wink wink nudge nudge that they were okay. That they would be okay. Even if they were gay. Even if they loved to masturbate. Even if they questioned God's existence. Even if they did something terrible and regretted it. I had books like that, which encouraged me in very subtle ways. Not always in ways the author intended, I am sure. Christopher Pike had a bisexual character. The sex education book my mother gave me, embarrassing me, and which I would never read, but that I snuck peeks at, told me that homosexuality and masturbation were normal even as the sex education I was learning about in school said neither were. Books can be so important.
This book did not have those kind of lessons or questions, but it did have something to say about being a leader, being a part of a team, recognizing that you do not always know what other people are going through or who they are. It was not my favorite Clements book, but I thought it was alright. I definitely was not worried it would hurt anyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment