posted
I'd say this is probably one of the newer banned books to hit the stands. A lot of people feel it's inappropriate for a kid's book to have the word "scrotum" in the first chapter. But I thought it was pretty good. My daughter read it too. I asked her, while she was reading the first bit, if she new what a scrotum was. She said:
"It's something that a man has that makes something that causes a woman to be something if something happens and she get's pregnant and has something."
"You mean a baby?"
"No, something!"
"You lost me."
Well, the good part about it was that we got to talk a little bit about my compulsive eating. The ending had that ambiguity that makes it acceptable to literary types. I think it can make good arguments for some weirdos I know who wish they could raise their kids on the 12 steps. Basically, kids really do have emotional needs that can only be met by mortal people, whereas adults, if they don't outgrow these needs, tend to have problems.
But I can see why a lot of people wouldn't see the mention of a scrotum to be necessary.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Sounds like an interesting book. Your family always seems so intriguing and fun. How old is your daughter?
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posted
I could see not including it in an elementary school library, but of course elementary school here ends in the fifth grade.
How funny (and sad) that they compare the Newberry medal to Oprah's book club selection.
In the passage where the word is introduced, she knows that it has to do with part of a man's body, and though she's not sure what it is, she's both curious and repelled and sets it aside until toward the end of the book, when she asks someone it is appropriate to ask about such things.
It's not a good book for average kid who has led an uncomplicated life. But I've never known an average kid.
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In context, I can't say I have a problem with that word in a book for children in upper elementary school. Actually, I figure my son will know that word before he would ever be old enough to read the book. I am a big believer in calling things what they are and not making the private parts special, weird, or gross.
But it's nothing new that parents object to anything remotely sexual for a child under 80 years old. Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:In context, I can't say I have a problem with that word in a book for children in upper elementary school. Actually, I figure my son will know that word before he would ever be old enough to read the book. I am a big believer in calling things what they are and not making the private parts special, weird, or gross.
posted
I was more puzzled by her talking about enzymes and why her hair was the same color as the surroundings. So her use of the word enzyme was not really scientific. I guess she just picked it up somewhere. I asked my daughter (she was my real life informant) if she knew what an enzyme was, and she guessed it had to do with genetics. Of course, she got this from the context of what she had read.
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posted
I wish I knew the word when I was younger, and lots of other clinical terms. I can't tell you how many times a bigger kid would come up to me and ask if I had an [insert clinical word for vujayjay]. "I don't know" was almost never the correct answer.
On a related note, would any of you parents read this book to your kids? It's Tom Robbins next book, it's children's literature, and it's all about beer.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Gracie giggled. Her mother, who was busy at the ironing board, suggested without looking up, "I believe, dear, you're talking about beer."
"Oh!" squealed Gracie. "That's right. Beer. That stuff that's always on TV." She deepened her voice. " 'Better tasting!' 'Less filling!' "Better tasting!' 'Less filling!' " She giggled again. "Is it kinda like Pepsi for silly old men?"
I suppose I could see that having value. I was about 10 the first time I decided I didn't want to drink beer, because I thought about it and realized I wasn't interested in feeling less in control of my life.
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quote:On a related note, would any of you parents read this book to your kids? It's Tom Robbins next book, it's children's literature, and it's all about beer.
No, but not because of the beer. In the text Robbins quotes, the uncle invites the girl to tell lies to her mother as if it will be a fun little secret.
I want to stomp his head in.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
The only downside of not making your kids think private parts are special and weird: you sometimes realize how much work you have to do to overcome those old routines.
I saw Sophie squirming awkwardly after using the potty a few days ago and asked her, "Honey, do you need help? Are your panties hurting your bottom?"
She looked at me and said, "Not my bottom, daddy. It's stuck in my 'gina."
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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quote:On a related note, would any of you parents read this book to your kids? It's Tom Robbins' next book, it's children's literature, and it's all about beer.
No, but not because of the beer. In the text Robbins quotes, the uncle invites the girl to tell lies to her mother as if it will be a fun little secret.
I want to stomp his head in.
You don't like that the uncle wants to tell a lie to his sister inlaw so you want to kill him? (not sure if you mean the uncle or Robbins) Seems a little dispraportionate. Besides, it's an excerp from a draft. Maybe the uncle decides differently, or learns a lesson about lying, or that part gets edited.
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quote:You don't like that the uncle wants to tell a lie to his sister inlaw so you want to kill him? (not sure if you mean the uncle or Robbins) Seems a little dispraportionate.
Here's the text so that we have a reference point:
quote:"I'll tell you what," said Uncle Moe, almost in a whisper. "On Monday, we'll inform your mother that I'm taking you to Woodland Park. Instead, we'll secretly ride the bus out to the Red Hook brewery. We'll go on their tour and you can see for yourself exactly how beer is made. Most educational, my dear, most educational. After the tour, I'll sneak you into the taproom and we'll watch the bartender water the monkeys. It's better than the zoo."
The uncle knows he is doing something that the child's mother disapproves of. Thus, the secret. Instead of showing the child that adults are capable of reasonable discussion-- instead of instilling in the child a confidence in her parents and in his own trustworthiness-- Uncle Moe decides to go behind his sister-in-law's back. He decides to break both the trust of the mother and the trust of the child.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
You're right. That's a good point. I wonder if Robbins had thought of it. He did ask for reader feedback in the article, maybe I'll send him an email.
I do think that it is possible this issue is addressed later in the book. I'm pretty familiar with Robbin's work, and he tends to be very careful with ethics.
(I still think murder as a punishment for lying is dispraportionate.)
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How old is your daughter?
