Hi Laura,

I teach in a 4-8 middle school, so I'm keenly aware of the difficulty of providing appropriate materials for a range of developmentally different grades.  I'm assuming we'll have the same book as we're having a Scholastic book fair soon.  The book is  well-reviewed, as others have mentioned.  Since our 8th grade has a major unit on the Holocaust, I know we'll get copies for them.  I'll read the book before making a final decision (and my principal will read too if it's a close call), but I suspect any additional copy(ies) will be shelved with materials only available to our upper grades.

Whenever we have a book fair, I work with the PTO committee running the fair to sort the books.  They create cases that are more appropriate for the upper grades, depending on reading levels and concept level.  Given the mentions in the reviews of the book having brutal descriptions of the forced labor camps and the enslaved workers, I'll recommend this for the upper grade cases.  The parents who run the fair make the final determination of what they will sell to whom, but they generally use my suggestions.  They also have evening hours so parents can come look at the books with their children and make informed decisions.  I will also mention that the only covers that have ever raised concerns are some *ahem* rather romantic covers of books for older students.  They immediately put those aside with the few adult books Scholastic always seems to send - available only during the evening hours.  One Jello cookbook, featuring a delightful watermelon cover, also wound up on the parent night table after some of us, looking at it during our lunch, noticed the recipe for a vodka-infused Jello mold!  So much for judging a book by its cover.

Having said that, I don't actually have a problem with the cover.  We have a large Holocaust collection containing many books with swastikas on the covers.  While those books are not checked out to our younger students (because the content is horrific, not because of their covers), students from all grades can see the covers on the books.  The symbols of the Holocaust are a part of history, as are images from the Confederacy, Birmingham, 9/11, etc.   We have had other books in Scholastic fairs in the past with similar images on the cover and have never had a complaint.

Does your BoE policy manual  have a guidelines on items that are distributed in school?  That would probably be the mostly likely policy to govern the book fair flyers.  I'd speak with the principal before a parent call or visit occurs so the issue can be considered and policy checked in advance.

Best,

Ava