Susan Patron's Newbery Medal Is In the Bag...

So, the children's book that won the Newbery Award this year? Its The Higher Power of Lucky, by Susan Patron, and it has come under a firestorm of controversy. Its aimed at readers ages nine to eleven, and is being called into question because Patron had the cajones to use the word...scrotum. (Ohmygod, no, not that!) That's right, in the New York Times today there was an article talking about how librarians, you know, those people who are supposed to be against censorship, are refusing to carry it in their libraries for fear of angering parents. One librarian even said she wouldn't want to have to explain that word to her ten-year old. I can think of ten worse words she could have to explain. I can think of ten worse words I said when I was ten. And in the book its not even used in reference to a human male! It describes where her dog gets bit by a hornet. Why is a children's book that uses the word scrotum worse than the things kid see on television? People actually had the balls to question this? They must be nuts!