#wherein i have opinions
my library purchased a new copy of this this year! I’m going to try and convince our collections department that actually, this was a Mistake and it should be weeded immediately but in the meantime, please, i need someone to share my pain (Submitted by exhausted librarian)
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this submission is causing me real physical pain like its literally like getting punched in the gut multiple times. i’m assuming here that this was a conscious choice, because i cannot imagine getting a biology book for kids published with this kind of flagrant mistake.
like not to Go Off but first of all this was a science communicator who decided this was a good way to go about talking about mushrooms and fungi because apparently kids can’t understand that mushrooms are a different thing like plants and animals are different things, and then the publisher agreed that yes, this is good, we can totally heavily imply/outright state that mushrooms are plants by putting them on the front and back cover under the words “a book about plants without flowers” and then further imply/outright state that all plants that dont flower (apparently including mushrooms) fall under the ‘gymnosperm’ label, which by the way is another thing: if we’re assuming that the author did this to try to dumb it down for kids because referring to fungi as ‘not plants’ is too complicated, WHY are they using the ‘gymnosperm’ terminology on the back cover and WHY are they applying that term to all plants that don’t flower?? or are they using it as a specific example of plants that don’t flower, in which case it’s a poorly placed description??? like you gotta choose!!! are you gonna be specific or not!!!
also not to be Like That but JUST saying this strikes me as an example of like… very poor attention being given to botany and mycology in primary education. if you came to a kid’s publisher with a book that was like, ‘things that don’t walk: animals without legs’ and it had bacteria illustrated all over the cover and the back cover was like ‘WHAT is the squamata reptile family and WHY don’t they have legs’ i DOUBT that would fly lmao
Lying to kids about science is the absolute worst thing you can possibly do, ever.
This makes me SO MAD.
August 26, 2019
Stop! Treating! Kids! Like! They’re! Fucking! Idiots!
Yes, obviously phrase things in a way that they can understand, but stop dumbing shit down and making outright false statements just so those poor dumb widdle kids can understand uwu
Teach kids big words! Teach them the difference between one thing and another! Stop churning out garbage and treating it like gold!
When I was in 3rd grade, I checked out a literal field guide to mushrooms from my school’s library (like, a real field guide adults would use), and I read that thing cover to cover. It was so interesting! It was my favorite book I read in elementary school! I loved it!
Then I had to sit in science class and “learn” that mammals were mammals because they had fur/hair (whales have eyelashes if you look close!), and that atoms looked like a nucleus with electons orbiting around them like a mini solar system. Then in high school I learned that everything they said in elementary school was wrong, and I had to start all over! I was pissed off!!! Then I got to college, and learned everything from high school was wrong, too!
We owe kids better than that! Stop lying to them!!!!
!!!!!
August 26, 2019
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