Junior Fiction

General Comments

This collection is comprised of titles meeting the recreational and educational needs of students with third through sixth grade reading levels. Books include popular as well as classic selections in such areas as mystery, sports, science fiction, adventure, humor, historical fiction, and novels about the problems of contemporary boys and girls. The books may have illustrations, but the concepts, style, and treatment of the text are considered as significant criteria in the selection process. These books cover a wide range of subjects, themes, life situations, and developmental tasks. A variety of characters, settings, and writing styles are represented with difficulty ranging from simple stories to books for a sophisticated reader with a large vocabulary, wide literary knowledge, and higher reading skills.

The collection strives to meet the needs of outside reading for school assignments such as book reports and the reading aloud needs of teachers and parents. Students of children's literature should find the core of recommended titles available in the collection.

Development Plan

The primary goal of this collection is to provide leisure reading material to grade school children who have begun to master the skill of reading and are ready to read novels or chapter books. In order to meet this goal, the Library:

• strives to provide a wide range of reading levels from third grade through sixth grade.
• strives to provide a balanced collection of current popular titles and core materials.
• evaluates patron requests either through reviews, or knowledge and popularity of the author or title. Patron requests are given serious consideration and added to the collection as warranted and as budget allows.
• purchases multiple copies of popular titles where patron demand warrants and as budget allows.
• purchases multiple copies of Indian Paintbrush and Newbery award winners.

Influencing Factors

Purchases and buying patterns are determined in large part by:

• reading level.
• patron requests.
• circulation statistics.
• titles in a series.
• budget constraints.
• shelf space.
• visual appeal.

Retention/Weeding

• Newbery and Indian Paintbrush award winners and works of well-recognized contemporary authors are retained in duplicate.
• Books are kept as long as they are in readable condition and continue to circulate.
• Titles are replaced and supplemented based on demand.
• Donations are frequently used to replace worn or damaged popular selections.