Don't say the S-word
Within weeks of winning the prestigious Newbery Medal for children's literature--and getting a write-up on our editorials page--Los Angeles librarian Susan Patron is in the news again. This time, as School Me! blogger Bob Sipchen notes, it's thanks to some sensitive readers who couldn't make it past a particular word in "The Higher Power of Lucky"'s second paragraph: "Sammy told of the day when he had drunk half a gallon of rum listening to Johnny Cash all morning in his parked '62 Cadillac, then fallen out of the car when he saw a rattlesnake on the passenger seat biting his dog, Roy, on the scrotum."
A number of American classics have been challenged for their liberal use of the N-word (good thing Jesse Jackson simply cut to the chase by seeking to ban the word itself). The 1978 Newbery Medal winner-turned-adventure-film "A Bridge to Terabithia" sparked controversy with its irreligious use of the word "lord". But getting huffy over an anatomical term sets a new low for would-be book-banning hysterics (who, apparently, don't mind the title character's loitering around AA meetings).
As the editorial noted, a Newbery means a children's book will stay in print and in schools for years to come. The only thing that might help make it a more permanent fixture--like Terabithia before it--is a little controversy.
When Captain Underpants is most popular series of books for level 3 readers, I have a hard time buying the word "scrotum" as a problem.
I mean...don't at least half the kids reading the book HAVE a scrotum? Why is using an anatomically correct word such a shock to everyone's system?
Someone needs to take these people aside and KICK them in the scrotum, in hopes that they'll wake up out of their self-righteous coma!
Posted by: Sheryl | February 22, 2007 at 01:00 PM
Would they have preferred "Sammy told of the day when he had drunk half a gallon of rum listening to Johnny Cash all morning in his parked '62 Cadillac, then fallen out of the car when he saw a rattlesnake on the passenger seat biting his dog, Roy, on his hairy ball bag."?
I'd assume that the book-banners in this case consist of those who believe that the knowledge that genitalia even exists can only be imparted at marriage.
Posted by: David | February 22, 2007 at 08:02 AM
The S word should have been left out.
You have to look at age of the readers you target and think that maybe some words don't belong in books that are read by those who love Mickey Mouse.
By the way, what good would it do to ban the "N" word?
That won't stop the morons who use it.
The rest of us who are civil, would not even think of using it.
Ban it if you must, and I am all for the ban, but the money that will be spent on trying to ban the word could be put to better use like feeding the hungry.
George Vreeland Hill
Posted by: George Vreeland Hill | February 21, 2007 at 09:36 PM