With One Word, Children’s Book Sets Off Uproar

New York Times ^ | February 18, 2007 | Julie Bosman

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

he saw a rattlesnake bite his dog, Roy, on the scrotum.

You gonna die, Roy.

[goldstategop]

That's funny coming from the same people who demand unfiltered porn on library computer terminals. Its much ado about nothing.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[humblegunner]

The book’s heroine, a scrappy 10-year-old orphan named Lucky Trimble, hears the word through a hole in a wall when another character says he saw a rattlesnake bite his dog, Roy, on the scrotum.

A moose once bit my sister on the scrotum.

[zarf]

Pure calculation on the publisher and author for publicity. It worked!

This stuff is now marketing 101 stuff with the media as the conduit.

If they can milk it, more power to em.

[billorites]

"The word “scrotum” does not often appear in polite conversation."

Nor does it often appear in poetry given the difficulty of finding a rhyme.

[digger48]

he saw a rattlesnake bite his dog, Roy, on the scrotum

I take it, it wasn't the dog who was named "Lucky"

[goldstategop]

People have already seen the famous bared breast at the last Super Bowl. We're supposed to be shocked at a part of the male antomy? Puhleeaze!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[zarf]

A moose once bit my sister on the scrotum.

That wasn't your sisters scrotum, she's so old her thang looks like a wizards sleeve.

[YoungAmerican84]

"A moose once bit my sister on the scrotum."

Moose bites can be pretty nasty, you know.

[MrLee]

Yup, that'll do it.

[billorites]

"[Y]ou won’t find men’s genitalia in quality literature -- at least not for children.”

I've had my nose in a good book a time or two, but that's about it.

[proxy_user]

I hope you guys remember the little boy on Wonderama, around 1965, who insisted that an octopus had eight testicles.

Sandy Fox was really flummoxed!

[Old Professer]

Determining what is age-appropriate is, in itself, a subtle form of censorship.

[Fairview]

For God's sake, this is a perfectly acceptable, correct scientific word. My kids knew the proper words for body parts when they were five or six (though we tended to continue using the baby words for some years afterward). I don't believe for a moment that school librarians are fainting with horror over a word like scrotum. It's one of the favorite places mooses have for biting sisters so it must be okay. There are a lot of other words for places mooses bite that would not be okay for elementary-school kids.

[Tijeras_Slim]

"Mom! My dog's butthole got run over."

"That's rectum, Son."

"Wrecked him? Heck, it killed him!"

[Fairview]

That must have hurt like a b******.

[goldstategop]

Its good to know libs want to protect the little ones - when they aren't indoctrinating them in sex in the publik skrool.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Nor does it often appear in poetry given the difficulty of finding a rhyme.

I'll give it a try:

A snake bit my dog on the scrotum
His nuts hurt so much he can't tote 'em
But this limerick I pen
Ain't for kids six through ten
If the libs want this crap, let's outvote 'em