An award-winning children’s book has been banned from some US schools and libraries because it contains the word “scrotum”.
Susan Patron’s The Higher Power of Lucky, which won this year’s prestigious Newbery Medal for children’s literature, has incurred the wrath of teachers and librarians over a passage on the opening page in which a character describes where a rattlesnake has stung his dog. Schools in several states are refusing to stock the book, which is intended for readers of nine to 12 years, and the controversy has unleashed a flurry of debate on scholastic and literary websites.
Attempts to ban children’s books thought to contain provocative content are not unusual in the United States. According to the American Library Association there were 405 known attempts to remove books in 2005 with JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series, which has been accused of endorsing witchcraft, the most high profile case.
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Children’s Book Banned for Single Word by Nick Tanner
Guardian Unlimited, Tuesday February 20, 2007