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Book Nook provides readers with insights into the world of books. Vick Mickunas takes you into the center of the publishing world with the latest book buzz, book reviews, and exclusive chats with authors..Home > Blogs > Book Nook > Archives > 2007 > February > 18 > Entry
What rhymes with “totem” ?
Do you hear that sound? There, off in the distance? That muffled roar. Do you hear it? What could it be?
It is the sound of thousands of irate librarians. They are upset about one little word.
This year Susan Patron won the highest prize in children’s literature, the Newbery Medal, for her book “The Higher Power of Lucky” (Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books).
There’s just one problem. There it is, right on the first page. The main character, a 10-year-old girl named Lucky Trimble hears another character say that a snake has bitten his dog in a rather sensitive area.
Extremely sensitive to librarians it would seem. The word that is. The author writes that “scrotum sounded to Lucky like something green that comes up when you have the flu…” So, there you have it, that naughty word that has so many knickers all in a twist.
Librarians are in an uproar about that word. Some are refusing to allow the book on their shelves,
In my pantheon of people I tend to put librarians up there on the very highest recognition rung. They occupy my personal pedestal along with firefighters, civil rights activists, and search and rescue squads. I love librarians. For obvious reasons (I hope).
I’m somewhat puzzled by the uproar. Kids these days are hearing much more offensive words on a regular basis. Obviously, this offensive word is not one that we hope to hear in regular parlance, yet it is not usually thought of as obscene either.
Kids are like sponges. They hear a new word and they want to use it in regular conversation. I’ll never forget when I tried out a new word on my brother one time. I had no idea what it meant and it took me years to figure out the real meaning of the word. So, I was puzzled when my mother got so angry at me for referring to my little brother as a “bastard.” Who knew?
I’m curious. What do you think of this uproar? Are librarians justified in being offended? Should this book be banned? Or, do they protest too much?
The ball is in your court.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: laughable
Comments
By time
February 19, 2007 7:31 PM | Link to this
Reminds me of the time my 6th grade teacher called home because I came to school with the book I was currently reading. Back then, Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis was a no-no in the parochial system; I wonder what Ms. Tiernan would think of the problems with today’s type of literature. It’s actually pretty funny when you consider the overt sexuality and violence our toddlers are exposed to in everyday life. It’s like what we said at the time around our tykes - let’s keep Monica in the bag, shall we?By freedom's friend
February 19, 2007 2:33 AM | Link to this
I don’t think the librarians themselves are so offended. Rather, I think they anticipate a lot of self-righteous offended parents giving them grief and want to avoid that. And given the vociferous, in-your-face, and sometimes violent way that self-righteous people in this country frequently express their moral outrage, I can’t blame them. This was one fight they didn’t want to pick. And while I deplore the situation, I don’t blame the librarians. They are generally very opposed to censorship, and they earned my devoted respect and admiration for their efforts in defense of our civil liberties in the face of the snooping enabled by the Patriot Act. I only wish Congress and the American people valued our civil liberties and freedom of thought as highly as the librarians did.By lightstepper
February 18, 2007 6:12 PM | Link to this
“What rhymes with ‘totem’?” — I love it!! Hard to believe librarians of all people would be censors. What’s the world coming to?By Mark
February 18, 2007 1:55 PM | Link to this
So, are you saying that your blog is too adult for younger readers? I enjoyed that article. My first impression was whoaaaa, they said what? but then, when I read the context, well, I for one couldn’t see a problem. The average El Ed student goes from dirty dictionary word to dirty dictionary word as fast as their peers introduce them. In this case, were I a parent, I think I’d prefer that the scrotum be in my court as long as possible before giving way to their discovering what’s in that particular bag.