Don't Donate That Book!

Last week, I mentioned that Roland and I have been volunteering at a summer reading program held at Ascension Lutheran Christian School in Gary, Indiana. When the school put out a call for new and used books, it was flooded with contributions. I was reading one of them during a break and realized that not every book is a good candidate for donation. This isn’t a matter of censorship. I’m a big supporter of the First Amendment and would never advocate banning books. But I do believe in using good judgment.

The problem isn’t what you might think. There is nothing in the book that is insensitive. It doesn’t contain bad language, sex, or violence. It is simply out-of-date.

In the book, the protagonist’s father is a photographer who uses film and develops his own pictures in a darkroom at home. The process spills over into the kitchen, with chemicals and other equipment spread out everywhere. Then there is the typewriter the neighbor buys because everyone else in her class has one and the test the protagonist had trouble reading because the purple ink from the mimeograph is too light.

So why is this an issue? Because donated books often go to children who aren’t good readers or need to be motivated. If they come across outdated technology that they don’t understand, they may become frustrated and give up. (For simplicity, I’ll continue referring to technology although the same applies to outdated customs, modes of dress, and anything that might become a passing fad.)

When I mentioned the book to Roland, he said that children need to learn about how things were in the past. I agree, and if they were reading these books with parents who could explain them, I’d be all for it. But I don’t think that’s the situation for most of the recipients.

In this particular book, the chemicals for developing film are important to the story, but the mimeograph and the typewriter aren’t. The story was appropriate in its time and might still be a good read in the proper circumstances, but it isn’t a good book to donate.

This doesn’t mean that I’m ruling out all books that were written before the current technological age. On the contrary. Many books that were placed in a contemporary setting many years ago are still easy reads. Louisa May Alcott set Little Women in her own time, and E.B. White did the same with Charlotte’s Web. But they avoided getting too specific about the technology of their day. To use the donated book as an example, the mimeographed test would have worked equally well if the text merely mentioned “ink” or “print,” and the story would have had a longer life. 

Historical novels are a better way to help children learn about the past. The well-written ones don’t frustrate the reader because the author places the story at a clear time and uses context to explain the technology, customs, and other now outdated matters. Although many do include references to the pop culture of the time, they make it self-explanatory.

I’m not trying to discourage writers from using I-Phones and Twitter and the fad of the moment in their stories if they don’t care about longevity. But I am saying that these are not good books to donate after the technology becomes outdated. 

Just because something is old doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be donated. But books that assume the reader understands the technology don’t wear well, and volunteers and staff may not have the time to weed them out. That means the person donating the book should be the first reviewer.

So if you want children to catch your love for reading, don’t donate books that will frustrate them instead.