You Won’t Find Men’s Genitalia in Quality Literature?

Leelu may be a rogue and work in a library, but is she a rogue librarian?

While contemplating topics for a non-cycling post so as not to lose Gobula, it struck me that some of you may not yet be aware of this. It's been the hot topic with children's librarians for a number of days now, but I haven't mentioned it here. According to the New York Times, the recently announced 2007 Newbery Award winner, The Higher Power of Lucky, has become controversial because it has the word "scrotum" on the first page. I haven't actually seen the book yet, but the 10-year-old main character apparently overhears a couple of adults talking and one mentions that a rattlesnake bit his dog in the scrotum. She doesn't know what that means, but

“Scrotum sounded to Lucky like something green that comes up when you have the flu and cough too much,” the book continues. “It sounded medical and secret, but also important.”

Many adults feel such talk isn't appropriate for 9-12 year-old readers and some school librarians are refusing to buy the book based on that one passage. Both the Times article and the link in the first sentence about Leelu--to Neil Gaiman's blog thoughts about issue--will give you a bit more information. I'm obviously with Gaiman on this one:

I've decided that librarians who would decline to have a Newbery book in their libraries because they don't like the word scrotum are probably not real librarians (whom I still love unconditionally). I think they're rogue librarians who have gone over to the dark side.

The Annoyed Librarian, with her generally conservative view, has even sounded off on this one even though she doesn't usually get into children's literature issues:

And of course [the author's] taking an idiotic line right out of the idiotic ALA playbook and crying censorship. So some librarian doesn't purchase this book and it's censorship? Has the word censorship become so debased in our society that we're supposed to take this seriously? Or is it only ALA-inspired librarians who seem to have such a poor grasp on the term?

Who's being denied access to this book? The book's published and publicly available. You can buy the stupid thing on Amazon. How is this censorship? What sort of bonehead thinks that a librarian has the power to "deny a child" access to this book if the parent wants their child to read about scrotums? As with the "banned books" nonsense emanating from the ALA, we've entered into some parallel universe where the library is the only place where books are available and where a librarian not buying a book is somehow the same as government suppression of information.

True, not buying a book in libraries is not the same as government censorship, but I don't think the word is entirely inaccurate. A sense of the word still applies. There is probably almost nothing provided by libraries in our country that isn't available elsewhere for a price. We don't provide anything unique. What we do, however, is provide it for free. The idea is for libraries to be the great equalizer in a democratic society by providing information to all citizens without barriers. So, sure, anyone can still buy the book, and the cost of doing so may be a pittance. And it's hardly a source of significantly important information. But by choosing not to purchase this book, librarians are taking it out of the realm of freely accessible information. It may be a matter of principle as much as practical censorship, but it is a sort of marginalization of an information source.

And to conclude, Gelf Magazine had the resourcefulness to find how many other scrotums have been mentioned in past children's literature:

All Creatures Great and Small, by James Herriot

"…as soon as the major touched the scrotum with his antiseptic, the colt reared and brought a forefoot crashing down on Kenny's head."

Fool's Puzzle, by Earlene Fowler

"You take this thing called an elastrator and fit them around the scrotum of the calf. Then when both testicles are through the rubber rings, you release the pressure and the ring constricts."

Folktales of India, compiled by Brenda Beck

"The scrotum of this man swaying back and forth made the crab think of a sumptuous meal. So the crab crept up to the man silently and grabbed his scrotum from behind."

Horse Thief, by Robert Newton Peck

"Judah actual convinced a city slicker that a dried, hollowed-out bull scrotum was a genuine Seminole water canteen."

Bless The Beasts And Children, by Glendon Swarthout

"A distinctive coin purse, it was learned, could be fashioned from the scrotum of a bull."

Alice in April, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

"That night, I asked Dad what Lester meant by, 'Some day the other one will drop.'
'Probably refers to the testicles, Al,' he said. 'Sometimes boys are born with a testicle up in the groin instead of down in the scrotum.' "

Your Puppy, Your Dog, by Pat Storer

"To neuter a male, the veterinarian surgically removes both of the testicles. If they have both descended into the scrotum it will be a relatively simple procedure."

Le Morte D'Avalon, by J. Robert King

"Roena pulled the child to her belly and wiped him. It was a boy, the scrotum swollen and purple beneath the kinked umbilicus."

Bro, by Robert Newton Peck

"With her gloves off, Aunt Lulu lifted the other hinder to slit the scrotum. She yanked out both balls, and then allowed the bawling bully (now a steer) to jump up free and bleed clean."

Book Of Dinosaurs, by Andrews McMeel Publishing and Tim Gardom

"Described by Robert Plot in 1676 as belonging to a giant human, this is the knee end of a thigh bone of Megalosaurus. It was later named, in 1763, by R. Brookes as Scrotum humanum, the genitals of a giant man."
Seriously, you have to check out this illustration.

The Storm Testament, by Lee Nelson

"He called the stuff castoreum, which he had extracted from the scrotums of male beavers he had trapped."
Perhaps not unrelatedly, the villain of this tail is the mobster Dick Boggs.