A huge controversy has arisen over a single word in this year's Newbery winner, The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron. You can find the whole thing discussed in Publisher's Weekly and in this morning's front page New York Times story about the word that has the children's book world in a tizzy. (It's the number one most emailed story from the online Times at the moment.)
The word is "scrotum." Early in the book Lucky hears a recovering alcoholic tell the story of how he hit bottom when a rattlesnake bit his dog on the scrotum. The man vowed if the dog lived he would give up drinking. The dog lived and the character is now a sober and useful citizen who relies on his "Higher Power."
Lucky wonders about what the word means and thinks it sounds like "something green that comes up when you have the flu and cough too much." Without that word the anecdote would not be the funny and perceptive introduction that it is to Hard Pan, CA, pop 43 and Lucky's life there.
Would these library folks who object to "scrotum" prefer one of the slang terms for that body part that children hear in the movies, on TV, and from their friends? Do they think the 11-year-olds of American can't handle reading it? Are these adults so immature they are embarrassed to explain it? Don't these people have anything else to do than to create trouble where there is none?
For my review of this book, go to 6 February, "The Higher Power of Lucky"