sing out loud...sing out strong...

[lagilman]

"Susan Patron's book, The Power of Lucky, is this year's Newberry Award winner, the highest honor given to children's literature. But librarians are banning it because of a passage where the main character overhears an adult talking about where a rattlesnake bit his dog. 'Scrotum sounded to Lucky like something green that comes up when you have the flu and cough too much,' reads the book."

Scrotum. Scrotum. Scrotum. Go on, say it out loud. She's totally right.


Being a kid is hard enough without adults trying to keep you as stupid as they are

Comments

[pearlformance.livejournal.com]

lol. It does.

Good article you pointed to too.

[caryabend.livejournal.com]

I'm all in tune with Spieglman's comment in the last sentence of the article:

Referring to growing up, in an interview with Art Spieglman, author of "Maus," he said, "As if it were all quaint and succulent, like Peter Pan. Childhood is cannibals and psychotics vomiting in your mouth."

[windrose.livejournal.com]

People are dumb.

Seriously. I've read some Newberry winners that were dark, depressing, violent and bleak, and nobody's trying to ban them. But the word "scrotum" is vaguely sexual, even when used in reference to a dog's anatomy and suddenly it's "Oh noes! Think of the CHILDREN!!!!"

I can't help it

[girasole.livejournal.com]

It is Newbery. One "r". Named for John Newbery, 18th cent. British bookseller.

www.ala.org/alsc/newbery.html

Re: I can't help it

[lagilman]

oi, don't look at me, lady,. I just reprint as is originally printed....

(waving hello via the NYPL;'s midtown branch computers)

[strigine.livejournal.com]

This is the first reference I've seen to the actual text. That's it? That's the context?

Christ! From the way people were hyperventilating about it I thought maybe the character had SEEN somebody's scrotum.

So she's hearing an adult use an anatomical word in its proper context (where, let's face it, most adults I know would say "nuts" or "ballsac" or something much more, ah, in the vernacular), and this is...bad?

Dammit, librarians are supposed to be part of our defense against this kind of BS.