LS 521 Journal Entry for 02/20/07

There has been a great to-do over recent Newbery Winner Susan Patron's The Higher Power of Lucky because it uses the word scrotum. There I said it and see the world didn't implode.

For more information here is the wiki about the book.

What concerns me the most about all this hub-bub is not the fact that people are up in arms over the use of the word. But that LIBRARIANS are part of the people that speaking the loudest about boycotting, banning and or censoring this book from their libraries.

It is also interesting to note that the author Susan Patron herself is a librarian. What also concerns me is that those that have not even read the book speak out against it the loudest sometimes.

I am on a number of librarian listservs and this subject has been broached on all of them in some way, shape or form. It scares me a little that individuals that are this highly educated can be so narrow-minded in forming an opinion about a book before actually reading it. I am currently in the process of obtaining my graduate degree for Library Science -- is this what I will become? I certainly hope not.

Librarians are normally the ones fighting against censorship not the ones advocating for it.

For other examples in youth literature where the word scrotum has been used take a gander at this page.

For an Ohio Journalist's take on the whole issue here is an article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Finally here is the author, Susan Patron's response to the whole controversy.