Modem, totem, scrotum. Which one of these words must parents, teachers, and librarians be protected from ever having to explain the meaning of to children? Yep, scrotum. A new children's book, The Higher Power of Lucky, is so offensive to certain parents, teachers, and librarians it has been banned from some school libraries. The Power Of Lucky is a Newbery Medal winner about the problems of a ten year old girl named Lucky living in a small town in California. The book begins with her overhearing a conversation where she learns about a dog that was bit in the scrotum by a rattlesnake.
That this book has been banned is some quarters in not that surprising to me. Our country prides itself on the personal freedoms enjoyed by its citizens but the truth is most people want to define just what those freedoms are and then force their belief on others. What I have never understood is this need to control what other people's children read. Growing up my mother let me and my siblings read whatever we wanted; children's books, comic books, movie magazines, newspapers, and "grownup books." Her view was that our reading anything was good. If we were reading something above our age level of understanding then what was over ours heads could not hurt us.
"Protecting" children from disturbing books (disturbing for the grownups that is) has been going on for years. A list of banned children's books can be found here.
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