The "S" Word

I have read, with great dismay, the comments of school librarians regarding the Newbery winner The Higher Power of Lucky.

Before I launch on this subject I would like to point out that there IS a word that has more power than "scrotum" in elementary schools. This word will reduce any child to a quivering and almost unrecoverable mass of hysterical laughter. Teacher's discipline plans and classroom management skills have been blasted to smithereens by the utterance of this single word.


This word is -- are you sitting down? I think you should sit down. In any case, you might want to steady yourself -- here it comes -- the word is "underpants."

Oh the humanity!


As reported in PW and the NYTimes, some school librarians are "shocked, shocked" to find the word s-c-r-o-t-u-m in the first page of the book. PW sums up some of the conventional thinking by quoting teacher/librarian Dana Nilsson:

Part of my job is to introduce students to quality, age-appropriate literature. I would not be doing my job if I booktalked or recommended this book to young audiences. This book has some great qualities—it shows a girl in an insecure situation wanting stability in her life. The inclusion of men's genitalia does not add to the story one bit and that is my objection. Because of that one word, I would not be able to read that book aloud. There are so many other options that the author could have used instead.

I do not mean to pick on Ms. Nilsson but she did go on the record and her comments do sum up a great deal that is being said on LM-Net.

• First of all the scrotum in question belongs to a dog not a man. It is also a seven letter word, not a four letter word, not a vulgarism

• She goes on to lament that another reason for excluding the book from her collection is that she "would not be able to read that book aloud." So, the criteria for inclusion in her collection is a book's read-aloud appeal? So you read Eyewitness books aloud? Do you read the Magic School Bus books aloud with all the sidebars and balloons? Tell the truth, you find The Berenstain Bears Forget their Manners an enjoyable read aloud and riveting listening?

• Finally she laments that other options could have been used. Yes, author Susan Patron COULD have forgone the use of the proper anatomical vocabulary in lieu of more colorful metaphors -- you know, the ones that spring immediately to your mind right now? Furthermore, "the story of the rattlesnake bite, she said, was based on a true incident involving a friend’s dog." (NYTimes)
  

Some librarians are worried that they (or a teacher) would have to explain what a word means. Sounds like a time to re-teach dictionary skills to me.

Worst case scenario: What will happen if the kids read this word (or horrors) hear the word being read aloud?

1. Well, they might fall into hysterical laughter and giggles. (highly probable)
As educators, that has NEVER happened to us before, has it? Hoo boy, how DO we deal with that one?

2. They might READ the word themselves, share the sentence with another child and then, well, see #1.

3. They might ask the teacher/librarian for a definition. Again, this sort of incident has NEVER happened to you before? A student has NEVER asked an "uncomfortable" question? How long have you been in the classroom??

Cutting to the chase, the problem is:

School librarians feel like they have to practice defensive librarianship. BBKNNs (Book Banning Know Nothing Nutters) are wielding unprecedented power these days.

Administrations are only too willing to head for the tall grass when an "irate" parent shows up on the doorstep with highlighter in hand. (Remember BBKNNs, you are not supposed to highlight the LIBRARY'S copy of the book!)

In a world where administrators' jobs, reputations and futures hang on the results of their school's or district's state testing results, one book (then two or three) seems like a small price to pay to dampen down publicity and to let the school get on with the business of teaching the kids. But what does that teach them?

Too often in the past year I have read reports of districts ignoring their own reconsideration policies to quiet one hysterical voice. I have also seen heartening stories where district policies are followed to the letter.

Librarians CAN innoculate themselves to a small degree to book challenges.

1. Do your students look forward to their time in the library?
   
2. Do you interact with your students?
   
3. Do you get to know their interests and reading strengths?
   
4. Would they recognize you in the hall?
   
5. Do parents hear about your "very cool" library program?

Or are you an "in-the-office" librarian, toiling away on MARC records, focusing on the administrative aspects of the job with little personal contact with the kids?

Guess which one has a better chance at avoiding a challenge?

All the good PR in the world cannot protect you completely.

RULE #1 of book challenges--It is NEVER just about the book.

Book challenges have more to do with the parent's self esteem than the book. Book challenges always include one or more of the following ingredients:

1. anger with someone at the school
2. parental guilt about not being there for their child in some way or fashion
   
3. a bid for attention and/or a desire to be someone of consequence and power

Too often, librarians are left to twist in the wind, victims of slanderous assaults on their character by BBKNNs. They are understandably gun-shy.

The University of Wisconsin at Madison actually has a resource to help communties through a book challenge. I wish more states had this kind of resource.

Finally, remember, it is all about "the Right Book for the Right Reader at the Right Time." What a tragedy if this book, with its sensational opening, could have been THAT book and it was not on the shelf.

(Of course, if you do observe a book behaving suspiciously, making inappropriate comments, or worse, grabbing a kid by the ear and dragging them over to the check out desk and MAKING them check itself out at weapon-point, well then you may deal with the nefarious tome appropriately.)

Before you decide whether or not to add this book to your collection, please read it. Then you will have a solid basis for your decision.

Susan Patron's comments