Posted on 01/04/2004 4:29:51 AM PST by Huber
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Martha Freeman got the bad news at lunch from her publisher and literary agent.
Although "The Trouble With Babies" had received good reviews, the sales of her children's book about a young San Francisco girl were poor compared with the first title in her series, and the paperback rights would not be sold.
But more stunning was the reason: A brief passage buried in the book about two gay fathers and their adopted son apparently had discouraged many librarians from buying the title.
Although they had enthusiastically purchased Freeman's previous book, "The Trouble With Cats," the mere mention of the gay couple in her newest work raised the possibility of a public backlash.
In one case, a Pittsburgh-area mother demanded that the book be removed, writing to an elementary school librarian that the author obviously had a "homosexual agenda" inappropriate for young readers. Soon, the title was taken off the library shelves.
"You could have knocked me over with a feather," Freeman said recently at her home near Penn State University. "The story I wrote had nothing to do with gay issues, and the reference to those fathers was strictly in the background, to show you the kind of people who live on a city block."
Now, Freeman faces a dilemma: Her publisher, Holiday House, has asked her to produce a third installment, and she has not decided whether to retain the gay fathers, as an act of independence, or eliminate them in an effort to sell more books.
"Part of me is tempted to put in even more gay characters, because these are my stories and I really don't like being censored," she said. "But I write books at home to earn money and send my three kids to school. My future earnings could be hurt if I keep these two gay characters in the plot. So what should I do?"
At a time when gay culture is gaining wider acceptance in American society -- as reflected in television shows, movies, magazines, fashion trends and recent court decisions -- Freeman's experience is a reminder that sensitivities still run high on the issue, especially when it comes to marketing new books for younger children.
While there has been an explosion in the number of books with gay and lesbian themes written for teens, sales of similar titles for younger children in school and public libraries remain "very dicey and very different," said Roger Sutton, publisher of the Horn Book Magazine, a monthly that covers children's literature.
If a library refuses to acquire a gay-themed book for teens, he said, they can find it elsewhere because they have disposable income. But most younger children are dependent on adults for books to read.
This puts immense power in the hands of librarians, because books such as Freeman's are most commonly sold to libraries.
If the titles aren't sold in sufficiently large numbers, there is little chance they will be reprinted in less expensive paperback editions. If that happens, the books quickly might go out of print.
Publishers typically market books such as "The Trouble With Babies" by sending out a limited number of review copies, and presenting them at book fairs and trade conventions.
Most librarians, however, learn about new titles from reviews in professional journals -- and this might have created problems for Freeman's book.
A majority of reviews mentioned the presence of the two gay fathers, thus tagging the book as one with "alternative lifestyle issues," Sutton said.
Never mind that Freeman's title is mainly about Holly, a 9-year-old who meets new friends and has zany backyard adventures when she moves to a neighborhood.
"For some readers, the mere use of the word `gay' is inappropriate, and they can't separate the word from the idea of sex," said Mary Cash, Holiday House's executive editor. "It's a problem we've seen over and over with books for children, especially when it comes to getting them on the shelves of public and school libraries."
Indeed, several gay-themed books for younger readers have remained atop the list of the United States' most-banned library books in recent years, according to the American Library Association, which tracks the issue.
Titles such as "Heather Has Two Mommies" and "Daddy's New Roommate" have sparked legal battles across the nation, causing many books to be removed or segregated in special collections.
Yet many experts believe a more subtle and prevalent kind of censorship happens when school or public librarians simply decline to buy a book like Freeman's, fearing it might cause a political furor.
These decisions are made in private, but they are no less crucial to the availability of certain children's books.
"There are well-organized community groups, not to mention parents, who simply don't want these kind of books available to kids," said Penny Kastanis, executive director of the California School Library Association. "You have parents who will say, `Never mind what our kids are seeing on television at night or at the movies.' They're going to make sure their children never read a book at school that they don't like."
Connie Cauvel, the Pittsburgh-area librarian who took Freeman's book off the shelf, said she believed "The Trouble With Babies" was well-written.
But after 38 years of battles with parents and other critics over library books, she added: "You get to the point where you can't win every confrontation. The reality is, the parents who objected to this book would have taken this to our school board, and I would have been overridden. I only have so much energy for these fights."
No, at a time when a narrow, urban, disproportionately gay elite is making wider attempts to force-feed gay culture to an unwelcoming American society...
I mean, if gay culture was gaining wider acceptance, this writer wouldn't be having such great trouble selling her crummy book, now would she?
Apparently she feels entitled to commercial success. People should be compelled to buy her books, whatever sort of countercultural message she includes, 'cause she needs the money for her three kids. (I'd say, "Where's their Daddy?" but considering the subject matter, he's probably in the utensils drawer: the turkey-baster).
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
That's the thing about the marketplace, if you reject the clues it gently proffers, it then forms the clue matter into a giant clue-by-four and beats the snot out of you.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Oh, we could have fun with this. How 'bout Mohammed's mommy has a cold wet nose?
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
The library was a magical place when I was a child; I have probably never thought of this but your post reminded me how I come to be fortysomething and struggling with cataloging the thousands of books in my house. I owe this to my parents, to excellent schools (public, mostly) and to a succession of librarians whose names I don't remember. May God smile upon them all.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
truthandjustice1....I suspect you mean "alerted"
Perhaps your friend was looking for.... an "alter" boy?
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
I dunno if that's what SamAdams76 was saying, but I can confirm that such behaviour has been recorded. It comes from seeking attention, wanting to be special -- and believing that medicine has beaten the virus.
Only problem for these confused (mostly very young) men is... medicine hasn't. So they have become infected with a fatal pathogen because it is chic in the "gay" community.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
I, however, have never really been sympathetic toward the homosexual agenda. Not only because of the reasons you already mentioned, but also because they...can't...seem...to...keep...their...hands...off...our...kids.
Everyone knows children raised in same-sex relationship households come out mentally and emotionally balanced.
(And in case you could not tell, I was being sarcastic.)
I always thought it was three Persons, one God!
Generally speaking, I think you've got a point. BUT the homosexual activists did NOT win that U.S. Supreme Court case involving homosexuals as Boy Scout leaders. And because they did not win it, they proceeded to act like hate-filled FASCISTS, and are in fact still acting like FASCISTS.
I don't like fascists. I don't wish to tolerate them. Call me INTOLERANT.
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