Popular Literature in the School Library, does it have a place?

Dianne McKenzie

Written for course requirements for the M.App. Sc. in TL through Charles Sturt University. 2000. Updated 20 May 2002

The debate on the inclusion of popular literature has been going for as long as popular literature has been a part of our culture. From its inception it was shunned as trash, poor in quality and unfit for consumption by children, and certainly not of a calibre worthy to be included in a public or school library.

Popular literature first made its appearance in the late 1800's, serving the masses with its fast action plots, easy to read dialogue and most importantly, its low cost. With the introduction of the dime and magazine novels, everyone could afford to read, and have a collection for themselves. It was a little later that public and school libraries became a part of society, and in all cases, the popular literature was not included in the collections, even though it was and still is the most popular genre of reading. Still the argument rages into the 21st Century with even more popular literature to censor from school libraries. The arguments both for and against its inclusion are compelling and strong, that one must firstly define what popular literature and quality literature is so as to know what is being discussed, then examine the benefits and disadvantages of including popular literature in the school collection, and then to offer strategies for librarians on how popular literature can be managed if it is to be incorporated into the collection without detriment to the works of quality..

Popular literature is that which is massed produced, usually separated by its simple language, possible use of illustrations with mass appeal. Coming under this heading are newspapers, magazines, readers digest, simple novels, series novels,condensed novels, comics, books based on screenplays and other 'popular' media characters.It is generally described as being written in undemanding language, a repetitious style, with stereotypical character and formula plots with a predominance of dialogue over description. (Foster 1997) Popular literature can include fiction and non fiction and is generally regarded as a light read as in it doesn't require the reader to examine too much within themselves, nor is it too taxing on the intellect. In the case of non-fiction, the simplified language and reliance on pictures which sets it apart from 'quality' non -fiction.

Quality literature has been described as having more descriptive language, presentation of more abstract concepts, dealing with deep and controversial issues and development of character through the circumstances they are challenged with, allowing the reader to become one with the character. (Richards et al 1999) It involves sophisticated syntax and vocabulary with compound sentences. where the authors are not scared to introduce 'hard' words and vocabulary into the story. In fiction the reader is challenged to empathize with the emotional and mental state of the characters. with the author taking great care in setting the scene and mood of the story, such as found in Ruth Parks novel Playing Beatie Bow (Saxby 1999) The language can be figurative and abstract, (Swartz 2000) with the book able to incorporate visual as well as literary challenges, added decoding skills are required to participate fully in this type of literature. (Saxby 1999)Examples of this visual and intellectual challenge is found in My Girragundi, where simple change of font sizes sets a different tone for the pages. Also 'All my Dangerous Friends' (Harnett), where the same story is told through the book by two different characters, giving their versions to the story, using different fonts and page colours to distinguish between characters.. Saxby 1999 states that quality literature "challenges the reader intellectually and should pose tough philosophical questions, feed the soul, quicken the spirit and challenge any reader to embrace life in all its fullness". In essence in a work of quality everything is made believable including mood, plot and characters. Lindsay (1999) believes that books should 'nourish, enlarge, enrich childrens souls by promoting enquiry as well as enforcing readers self esteem.' Quality literature is thought provoking, allowing the reader to measure their own reaction to the situations and characters presented. Quality literature can change peoples perception and understanding of life.

Put simply, popular literature is simple and easy to read with not much in the way of intellectual challenges where quality literature is complex and requires more skill with higher cognitive processes utilized in its reading. With this extremely simplified separation of the two types of literature, where does the place of both stand in the school library? The school library needs to be a dynamic place. with an aim to encourage the love of learning and reading, and to be a place where students can learn new skills and knowledge and be a place of excitement and interest where they want to visit. With this in mind I believe that popular literature has a place in the school library alongside the quality literature.

One of the main draw cards for popular literature is its high interest, children like to read these books and it has been shown in many studies that interest is the key to why children choose to read. (Krashen 1993, Greenlee et al 1996, Worthy 1999) Worth (1996) states that interest is the key element in learning, without it , low to no learning occurs. When students have an interest in what they are reading they will frequently transcend their so called reading level. This is due to the interest motivating and facilitating the reader to go beyond the surface level of information and move to a deeper level of understanding. Worthy (1996) in another study found that the factors of both interest and access improves learning motivation, effort and attitudes to reading. It is an important resource for learning that is related to cognition. Intrinsic motivation and inherent in interest is choice. Choice is affected by interest, which is influence by individual needs and background. (Swartz and Hendricks 2000) Krashen (1993) found that self selected reading leads to more volume of reading and generally the books that the children choose are harder than those that are chosen by influencing adults. Swartz Hendricks (2000) found that for students to become independent readers they need to choose and respond to literature. Factors influencing choice include topic/ subject matter, author, writing style, cover appearance, recommendation from others.The relationship between popular literature interest and the school library is an important one. Part of the processes of finding resources one is interested in is having access to it. Worthy (1999) found that students have very specific individual preferences, and schools, in a many cases, do not have what they want with. this mismatch being most marked for reluctant readers. This implies that school do not cater for students interests and hence their needs in literature to become proficient readers. Empirical evidence suggests that more boys than girls are reluctant readers. Pritchard (2000) found that when boys are interested in what they read, they read as much as girls, and that boys motivation to read is greatly affected by their interests whereas girls are more likely to give something a try even if it is not their main interest. Pritchard also observed that there were three key factors which are critical for boys to begin to read voluntary at school and home - choice, opportunity and access, the latter two factors being areas which can be provided by a well stocked library of materials which will allow the choice to be a real choice.

If children want popular fiction, and the school can provide it, what benefits beside interest, choice, opportunity and accessibility can popular literature provide? It has been censored because it has been perceived as being of no benefit to the reader, yet research has shown that it does play an important role in the development of avid readers. Popular fiction offers a starting point, and in the case of series fiction, these are most often the the first chapter books that children read by themselves due to their easy vocabulary, style and syntax. The reader gains confidence in being able to master these 'big' books and this easiness makes the transition from being read to to reading solo easier. (Ross 1996) If children enjoy their first book, they will look for another similar. Series books and other popular literature offer this choice, and makes selection less traumatic, risky, confusing and time consuming as the reader knows what to expect from the story. (Ross 1996) This expectation gives the reader a guarantee of reading satisfaction before they start.

In the case of author series books, the repetition of the formulaic storyline minimizes the time required to be submerged into the story, and provides a balance between safety and danger with a sameness and novelty - with each story different but the same. (Ross 1996) Examples of this type of story can be found in the Goosebumps, Graveyard School, Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High and Nancy Drew Series..Children like repeatability and the familiar. Very young children ask for the same story to be read to them over and over, the popular fiction allows this repeatability with familiar characters but with different stories, giving a new dimension to what is actually being repeated. From an adults perspective this repeatability detracts from the possible quality that the book may posses.

The series fiction allows children to not only practice reading but to learn and practice the skills of skimming, chunking, skipping,and visualizing as the text and plots are familiar and easy. (Ross 1996) The readers also learn how a story works, which characters to follow, learn that it is OK and good to have a response to a story, which details in the story to remember, the connection between characters and an understanding of semantics and markers of significance in the story. The mystery horror stories, in particular Goosebumps and Graveyard School, set particular but subtle markers which do not come together until the hurried end, similarly for the Nancy Drew and Sweet Valley High series.

The highly patterned fictions give children an initiation into the rules of reading (Ross 1996) and they will develop proficiencies through practice. (Reid and Cline 1977) The reader will have an increase in general knowledge, vocabulary and syntactic knowledge through the act of reading, however quality literature is able to make a more substantial contribution on this front than the popular literature as the text in popular fiction is simple and not very challenging, with the reliance of dialogue being limiting for descriptions, higher order information and harder words to be added to increase vocabulary. (Greenlee et al 1996)

Pritchard (2000) explains that the popular fiction provides practice in the processing of making patterns, putting stories together, extrapolating, confirming and may provide a crucial step toward more substantial reading. Richards et al (1999) support this by stating that popular fiction can develop reading fluency and the child can learn to read for enjoyment and entertainment through the exposure to and reading of popular fiction. Richards moves onto to state that reading is an essential skill for the information processing and problem solving tasks required for success in our changing society - there is a need to have readers absorbed if they are to develop the motivation to improve their skills.The higher the interest, the more books read, the more practice, the more skills learnt. Through this increased motivation and confidence in their skills as fluent readers, the child will become more comfortable reading more challenging texts. (Reid and Cline 1997)

One of the concerns of children reading too much popular literature is that young readers will never move on from popular literature onto more quality literature. Greenlee Monson and Taylor (1996) found that reading popular fiction does not interfere with the appreciation for higher literature of higher quality. In their study 56% of the surveyed students preferred the recommended book over the popular fiction books and, in other subjective questions, the children preferred the recommended book all round. In Hearne (1991), a study by Susan Roman was cited, in which she found when students are given enthusiastic guidance and choice between quality fiction and formulaic series books, most young readers choose a mixture of both. Ross (1996) found that the simplified formulaic nature of the series books limits their continued appeal, whilst through the reading of these books, the children have identified the genres of literature they prefer, and will tackle quality books in their chosen genre. It was also found that accomplished readers will occasionally slide down to the less challenging material due to circumstances of travel, sickness, lack of time, fatigue - the same reasons that adults would revert to lighter reading.

Another aspect of the popular fiction is that it performs a very important social function where kids swap, collect and discuss the books they have read - similar to what adults take pleasure in doing. Krashen (1993) found that what students read is influenced by what their peers read, and that reading of popular fiction is something kids can do on their own or with a friend - a show of independence from their parents. Krashen (1993) also found that hearing stories and discussing them encourages reading, and Richards et al (1999) found that there was a significance amongst children in trading stories and books and owning and having read the complete sets - reading had become cool. The disadvantage of this is that many good books can be overlooked because they are not part of a set. (Hepperman 1997) Lewis (1998) found that books can become status symbols and become the basis for social groups. This phenomena is currently apparent with the Harry Potter series of books, with the children engaged in animated discussion and participatory actions such as acting out the stories, basing their clubs on the houses at Hogwarts and becoming the characters themselves, and keenly anticipating the release of each new book.

One of the underlying benefits discussed in much of the literature is that popular fiction is most important as a confidence booster which gets the children into the habit of reading and keeps them reading. (Saltman 1997, Nilsen 1993, Perry & Butler 1997). Some children will move onto better literature quickly, some later and others not at all, but through the experience of reading they are learning more about how to read. Saltman (1997) agrees that popular fiction particularly series books give the reader release and security but that quality fiction offers a deeper enjoyment of a story with a profound and universal pleasure and the beginning of literary discrimination and wisdom. The quality literature will stay with them longer. There are a number of quality works which can be promoted to be read instead of popular fiction.as they meet many of the requirements that young readers are looking for in this new experience of reading - brevity, simple language, but are more complex in the subject covered, syntax, and the characters have more depth, examples are the Insomniac series by SR martin, , Bob the Builder and the Elves by Emily Rodda, Crazy Tales series and The Aussie Bites series by various authors.

Through popular literature there is an attempt to by some authors to expose children to important societal issues such as prejudice, divorce, eating disorders, friendship, death all at a safe distance, and a superficial level with a security in the knowledge that a happy ending will await the reader. (Pennebaker 1994) At the same time there is usually no sex, serious violence, swearing or teen speak, or heavy issued discussed where a stand needs to be taken. For parents, popular fiction is safe reading where issues brought up are not too complex or controversial, and the parents need not have to read the book first to ensure it is appropriate for their child, or what they want their child to be reading. This is total contrast to some of the young adult literature such 'All My Dangerous Friends' with its shocking ending and very controversial subjects of peer group, values, taking a stand and life changing events.Even some of the picture books which can be read by all ages, but particularly by young children, can carry controversial and poignant messages, such as John Marsdens 'The Rabbits' where the controversial issue of white settlement of Australia and other countries is very graphically depicted. Other picture books which, although the story is cute and 'appropriate' it can become controversial due to the illustrations, an excellent example being Mr McGee and the Biting Flea, where the issue of male nudity is presented in a comical, yet natural way, but is too controversial for many schools to carry it. Another case in point is Hello Baby, where the issue of birth is addressed in a soft, poignant and natural way, yet has become a book of controversy because of the theme it presents and the illustrations which are indicate the process of birth without being too graphic. These are dangerous grounds for many adults, of whom many cannot cope with the possibilities the themes may lead to , discussions and knowledge the child may gain through participating in the experience. The attitude that popular fiction is safe is reflected in the study by Greenlee, Monson and Taylor (1996) where it was found that the givers of books would choose popular titles, especially series books, as a gift. This could also be a convenience and time saving device, but could more likely be put down to being a 'safe' choice.

Popular fiction is escapist, cliched, formulaic and in many cases, poorly written. It does have undemanding language,a repititious style, stereotypical characters, and is criticized further for being racist , sexist and that it supports classism. (Foster 1997) These criticisms are based on the fact that many of the most popular fiction is based in a middle class, white American family groups, who do not need to struggle for money or other hard life issues and who do not interact with 'minority groups'. Saltman (1997) mentions that that the shallow characters are reflective of images and stereotypes that are familiar from the mass media and that there is dumping down of text. Greenlee Monson and Taylor (1996) suggests that there are either implicit or explicit messages within popular fiction, particularly series books. Some of these messages include a dominant patriarchal society (Goosebumps), romance saves the day (Sweet Valley High), that reading is for white and affluent children as nearly all the characters are white and affluent - (Baby Sitters Club, Sweet Valley High, Nancy Drew,) and that all problems that appear can be solved by the characters themselves with no help from adults and there is always a happy ending. Too sanitised.

The reasons that children read more popular fiction than recommended books are - availability, the social aspects, the relative easiness of the reading experience with the brevity and easy language, the familiarity, the sense of accomplishment, and the paperback format which is preferred by children. (Krashen 1993)

Popular fiction has many benefits to support it but it also has a strong argument against it, which is why it has remained controversial. The implications for school librarians in choosing to stock popular literature are many, but with active management they can be successfully incorporated in the collection to the childrens and libraries benefit.

Krashen (1993) states that the more print rich the environment , the better the literacy development.Swartz and Hendricks (2000) suggest that libraries need a number of books across genres as the more books available the more choices the children have. Worthy (1996) supports this, and adds that librarians can use the popular texts to satisfy students initial preferences while introducing sophisticated works for read alouds and topic work. Reid and Cline (1997) mention that making room for popular fiction will help students make room for other reading in their lives and accommodate the constantly changing interests and abilities of the readers. Interests and abilities constantly develop and readers move on. Chance (1999) proposes considering series books, comics, magazines as their own genre with their own strengths and weaknesses. Genco (1991) supports this by suggesting librarians evaluate the mass media based books within the perimeters of their own genre - each genre contributing something different to a collection, and the same child may enjoy all or only one.

The teacher librarian needs to encourage a print rich environment with a great variety of books to cater for all reading levels and interests (Ross 1996) this includes popular fiction as this is what children want to read. (Foster 1997) Librarians need to work with the students in the selection of books and other media - give ownership of the library to the students, set limits on the popular fiction titles and let them choose the good books as well. Encouraging this student choice leads to better attitudes towards reading, learning and the library. (Pritchard 2000) As Worthy (1999) points out, children have three choices with regard to accessing books that they want but are not supplied by the library -. read outside their interest, obtaining the preferred reading materials themselves, or not reading at all. If the student cannot afford the books they want, they only have two real choices. Student preferences must be addressed in order to capture their attention, enjoyment and foster conditions to learning. As Jacobs and Tunnell (1996) expressed, 'if the kids read nothing then the opportunity to alter their taste and judgment about books is non existent'. Crome (1998) uses the expression to have 'milk before meat', in this way to use the popular fiction to hook non-readers with high interest, fast paced novels that might lead to more reading or more quality in the future. A part of this is to have multiple copies of the more popular books so that students are not discouraged from borrowing if their preferred choice is already on loan. (Pritchard 2000)

The librarian needs to have read many of the books in the library, across a wide selection of genres or at least to know about them. The librarian needs to be aware of what the books are - their readability, suitability for different ages, the subject base, the genre. (Foster 1997) Saltman (1997) suggests that librarians should know and love childrens books, need to acknowledge different reading tastes and choices and be aware of those books which will satisfy the different children's requirements. There is also a requirement to know the students and personalise the library experience for them by engaging students in conversations about their books and their interests (Lewis 1998) The librarian needs to give the time to help find the books the students like. Greenlee Monson Taylor (1996) found that students value the teacher librarians recommendations and help in selecting a book if the teacher librarian shows a genuine interest and knowledge of the materials. Greenlee Monson and Taylor (1996) found that students will read quality books but need assistance to find quality literature that will meet their personal needs and interests, so it is the librarians responsibility to provide this assistance.

As MacDonald (1991) points out 'children will always opt for something familiar, it is up to the librarian to seduce them with better work.' The teacher librarian needs to also supply experiences to help to provide students to begin finding books on their own these can include library exploration exercises, treasure hunt activities, read around the world experiences, book raps, literature circles, peer reviews and teacher reviews among others.

The teacher librarian needs to be aware that rows of books are intimidating for children and displays should be set up where different genres or themes are highlighted on a weekly or fortnightly basis, where children can browse and borrow from these displays. (Greenlee, Monson and Taylor 1996) As Worthy (1999) points out, accessibility is a crucial issue to encouraging children to read, and if the quality books are more accessible than the popular books, then the quality books will enjoy a higher readership.

Librarians must be at the forefront of initiating or continuing and promoting a free voluntary reading program in the school setting, establishing it as supplementary to the instructional program. (Pritchard 2000) they need to have literature available that the kids will choose - whether it be a classic novel or a Garfield comic, it needs to be a free choice that is appropriate for the child and needs to be accessible and available, and if required the teacher librarian needs to be a frequent visitor to the classroom or playground, either as a team teacher or as a visitor to read a book, or talk about a book. This will make the library a familiar place, and the library a real person whom the know out of the library setting, and whom the children will respect as an 'expert of books'.

Teacher librarians need to make sure they avoid giving the message that students can read what they want but only from the selection that the librarian thinks is worthwhile to read.(Lewis 1998) This is a form of censorship, and it is presumptuous for the librarian to know what is the most appropriate for a particular child, as each is himself no matter what the generalisations about reading patterns and his age may be. The way to truly help a child become an avid reader is to provide them with what they want to read and usually they will be very good judges of what is appropriate themselves. The teacher librarian needs to be ready to support their selection policy for the inclusion of the popular fiction and any other controversial material into the school library, so they need to understand what marks a book as being both meritous and worthy of being placed in the school collection, and the reasons why popular fiction should be included.

Popular fiction can have a place in the school library alongside the quality literature. The children will choose popular literature first because it is a presold brand, that is familiar to them so the teacher librarian needs to make an effort in encouraging children to move on from the popular literature and experience the deeper satisfaction from the quality works, however, it does come down to the individual choice in the end, and a child will move on if and when they are ready. The popular literature does have a role to play in helping children to learn the skills of reading, instead of being shunned its merits need to be respected and used to our advantage in getting children hooked on reading.

Bibliography

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FURTHER READING

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Coppell, V. 1998. The 'goosebumps' in Goosebumps: Implications and R.L. Stine. Papers, 8:2. pp.5-15. Reading 9 ETL 402 Charles Sturt University.

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Harris, C., 1999. In defence of series fiction. Magpies. July. Vol.14:3

Larson, C.R. 1999 Stratmeyer's writing machine. The World and I. April. Vol. 14:4 264-269.

National Education Association. 2000. NEA poll spotlights kids favourite books. Reading Today.April /May Vol.:17:5 page 14 retrieved via Proquest HKUST

Nimon, M. 1993. Fiction, political correctness and teacher librarians. Access. Vol.7:2 , pp. 19-21. Reading 28 ETL 402 Charles Sturt University.

Children's Books read

Allen, Pamela. Mr McGee and te Biting Flea

Disher, Garry. The Divine Wind

Harnett, Sonya, All My Dangerous Friends

Park, R.(1981) Playing Beatie Bow

Marsden, John. (1996). The Journey. Pan Macmillan:Sydney

McDonald, Meme & Pryor, Boori (illus Meme McDonald) My Girragundi

Parry Glynn (1998). Sad Boys Hodder Headline: Sydney

Pignaro,Anne (writer Colin Thompson) The Staircase Cat

Rodda, Emily. Bob te Builder and the Elves

Rowling.J.K. (1998) Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone,

(1998) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

(1999) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Bloomsbury,London.

Tan, Shaun (writer John Marsden) The Rabbits.

Series Books or Books within a series

Pascal, Francine. (1988). Kidnapped. Sweet Valley High. Bantom Books:New York

Wrightson, Patricia. (1997) Rattlers Place. Aussie Bites.Puffin Books:Melbourne Mattingley, Christobel. (1997). Ginger. Aussie Bites. Puffin Books:Melbourne

Martin, S.R. (1997). Cold. Insomniacs. Scholastic:Sydney

Martin, SR. (1997). The Tunnel, The Dark. Scholastic:Sydney

Fienberg, Anna, Feinberg Barbara. (1997).Tashi and the Genie. Little Ark. Sydney.

Betancourt, Jeanne. (1994). I want a pony. Pony Pals. Scholastic. New York.

Stone,Tom,B. (1995). The headless bike rider. Graveyard School. Hodder Headline: London

Keene,C. False Moves.(1987)x The Nancy Drew Files, Case 9. Archway Paperback, New York.