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The Higher Power of Lucky Controversy
February 18, 2007 With One Word, Children's Book Sets Off Uproar
By JULIE BOSMAN
The word “scrotum” does not often appear in polite conversation. Or children’s literature, for that matter.
Yet there it is on the first page of “The Higher Power of Lucky,” by
Susan Patron, this year’s winner of the Newbery Medal, the most
prestigious award in children’s literature. The book’s heroine, a
scrappy 10-year-old orphan named Lucky Trimble, hears the word through
a hole in a wall when another character says he saw a rattlesnake bite
his dog, Roy, on the scrotum.
“Scrotum sounded to Lucky like something green that comes up when
you have the flu and cough too much,” the book continues. “It sounded
medical and secret, but also important.”
The inclusion of the word has shocked some school librarians, who
have pledged to ban the book from elementary schools, and reopened the
debate over what constitutes acceptable content in children’s books.
The controversy was first reported by Publishers Weekly, a trade
magazine.
On electronic mailing lists like Librarian.net,
dozens of literary blogs and pages on the social-networking site
LiveJournal, teachers, authors and school librarians took sides over
the book. Librarians from all over the country, including Missoula,
Mont.; upstate New York; Central Pennsylvania; and Portland, Ore.,
weighed in, questioning the role of the librarian when selecting — or
censoring, some argued — literature for children.
“This book included what I call a Howard Stern-type
shock treatment just to see how far they could push the envelope, but
they didn’t have the children in mind,” Dana Nilsson, a teacher and
librarian in Durango, Colo., wrote on LM_Net, a mailing list that
reaches more than 16,000 school librarians. “How very sad.”
The book has already been banned from school libraries in a handful
of states in the South, the West and the Northeast, and librarians in
other schools have indicated in the online debate that they may well
follow suit. Indeed, the topic has dominated the discussion among
librarians since the book was shipped to schools.
Pat Scales, a former chairwoman of the Newbery Award committee, said
that declining to stock the book in libraries was nothing short of
censorship.
“The people who are reacting to that word are not reading the book
as a whole,” she said. “That’s what censors do — they pick out words
and don’t look at the total merit of the book.”
If it were any other novel, it probably would have gone unnoticed,
unordered and unread. But in the world of children’s books, winning a
Newbery is the rough equivalent of being selected as an Oprah’s
Book Club title. Libraries and bookstores routinely order two or more
copies of each year’s winners, with the books read aloud to children
and taught in classrooms.
“The Higher Power of Lucky” was first published in November by
Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster,
accompanied by a modest print run of 10,000. After the announcement of
the Newbery on Jan. 22, the publisher quickly ordered another 100,000
copies, which arrived in bookstores, schools and libraries around Feb.
5.
Reached at her home in Los Angeles, Ms. Patron said she was stunned
by the objections. The story of the rattlesnake bite, she said, was
based on a true incident involving a friend’s dog.
And one of the themes of the book is that Lucky is preparing herself
to be a grown-up, Ms. Patron said. Learning about language and body
parts, then, is very important to her.
“The word is just so delicious,” Ms. Patron said. “The sound of the
word to Lucky is so evocative. It’s one of those words that’s so
interesting because of the sound of the word.”
Ms. Patron, who is a public librarian in Los Angeles, said the book
was written for children 9 to 12 years old. But some librarians
countered that since the heroine of “The Higher Power of Lucky” is 10,
children older than that would not be interested in reading it.
“I think it’s a good case of an author not realizing her audience,”
said Frederick Muller, a librarian at Halsted Middle School in Newton,
N.J. “If I were a third- or fourth-grade teacher, I wouldn’t want to
have to explain that.”
Authors of children’s books sometimes sneak in a single touchy word
or paragraph, leaving librarians to choose whether to ban an entire
book over one offending phrase.
In the case of “Lucky,” some of them take no chances. Wendy Stoll, a
librarian at Smyrna Elementary in Louisville, Ky., wrote on the LM_Net
mailing list that she would not stock the book. Andrea Koch, the
librarian at French Road Elementary School in Brighton, N.Y., said she
anticipated angry calls from parents if she ordered it. “I don’t think
our teachers, or myself, want to do that vocabulary lesson,” she said
in an interview. One librarian who responded to Ms. Nilsson’s posting
on LM_Net said only: “Sad to say, I didn’t order it for either of my
schools, based on ‘the word.’ ”
Booksellers, too, are watchful for racy content in books they
endorse to customers. Carol Chittenden, the owner of Eight Cousins, a
bookstore in Falmouth, Mass., said she once horrified a customer with
“The Adventures of Blue Avenger” by Norma Howe, a novel aimed at junior
high school students. “I remember one time showing the book to a
grandmother and enthusing about it,” she said. “There’s a chapter in
there that’s very funny and the word ‘condom’ comes up. And of course,
she opens the book right to the page that said ‘condom.’ ”
It is not the first time school librarians have squirmed at a book’s
content, of course. Some school officials have tried to ban Harry
Potter books from schools, saying that they implicitly endorse
witchcraft and Satanism. Young adult books by Judy Blume, though
decades old, are routinely kept out of school libraries.
Ms. Nilsson, reached at Sunnyside Elementary School in Durango,
Colo., said she had heard from dozens of librarians who agreed with her
stance. “I don’t want to start an issue about censorship,” she said.
“But you won’t find men’s genitalia in quality literature.”
“At least not for children,” she added.
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Contact: Mark Gould
For Immediate Release
February 22, 2007
Statement regarding the true value of "Higher Power of Lucky"
CHICAGO - The following is a joint statement released by Kathleen T.
Horning, president, Association for Library Service to Children, and
Cyndi Phillip, president, American Association of School Librarians,
regarding the "Higher Power of Lucky."
"Recent media coverage failed to discuss the true value of the
'Higher Power of Lucky,' by Susan Patron. The author’s use of one word
should not prevent children from having free access to this remarkable
piece of children’s literature. Children and their families should be
given the opportunity to read this book and develop their opinions.
"The 'Higher Power of Lucky' is a perfectly nuanced blend of
adventure and survival, both emotional and physical. It is a gently
humorous character study, as well as a blueprint for a self-examined
life. The book serves as a reminder that children support one another
just as adults do.
"Libraries are about inclusion rather than exclusion. The freedom to
read, speak, think and express ourselves is core to our American
values. Part of living in a democracy means respecting each other’s
differences and the right of all people to choose for themselves what
they and their families read.
"Fortunately, most libraries do offer a full spectrum of resources
and ideas from which our patrons can choose. Librarians understand that
children mature at different rates and have different interests,
reading abilities and life experiences. Decisions about what materials
are suitable for particular children should be made by the people who
know them best - their parents or guardians.
"We believe that every family should have the opportunity to read
the 'Higher Power of Lucky' and that every public and school library
should consider adding the book to their collections."
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