Reading about one of last summer's big news children's books today on Amazon, gave me reason to be glad I am no longer a children's librarian at work. I will always be one at heart and I am the librarian in the family that gifts books for birthdays and Christmas and baby showers. The discussion I read continues over Lane Smith's "It's a Book" which ends with, "It's a book, Jackass".
As a parent and a children's librarian I am appalled at so called professional people who defend the use of spiteful name calling in the end of a book as a reason to celebrate it and push it on a group of unsuspecting young children. Calling it a joke and not acknowledging that as bywords go - it will be repeated ad infinitum at other children, teachers and parents, regardless of whether or not they have long ears and a tail such as the character in the book, is humorously naive or deliberately subversive. Inspiring masses of elementary age children to get smart with their elders and then say, the book said it, should not be the mission of a children's book, its author (perhaps except for some self-published teenager), publisher, or the librarians that are for whatever reason (like being kin to the author in their own language development) that are defending it on Amazon.com.
Parents, teachers and librarians have a responsibility to "select" books that provide entertainment, education and yes positive role models. There is not time for every book in this day and age. There is not money enough either. People with any common sense therefore would choose to prioritize those things that have value in order to provide the "best" possible choices for the young people in their trusted care. Where in that goal is there room to buy smart alecness, snarkiness or hatefullness in a picture book targeted for elementary school children? Well, truthfully, even if you have room and money to burn, there is no reason to accept that and call it art. We have been told that we must, to be politically correct, politely use special not handicapped, gay and not queer and other variances on what is socially acceptible, but the same people who shoved that through the media are now telling us to celebrate and award children's books that use jackass, scrotum, and a variety of other unpleasant or downright vulgar expressions as intellectual freedom for the masses. Those "librarians" they claim to be say they need to be exposed to that in their elementary school library because their parents should not sheild them from the real world. Wait, a minute! Shielding small children from the bad parts of the world is still the responsibility of grown ups. Just because a lot of them are not doing it because they take their 3 year olds to R and X rated movies rather than find a baby sitter, does not mean your child or mine should be told to read that on his Accelerated Reader assignment at school. Come on people, grow up and act like grown ups. Selection requires that you choose to choose or not choose, not that you let intellectual freedom fanatics tell you what to choose. Your intellectual freedom should not be shoved in my child's face at school or the public library. *Personal note, my kids are over 21 - and would laugh, but they will never see this book nor will any of my great nieces and nephews if I can help it.
Tax dollars spent are a responsibility to spend wisely- - not an opportunity to anger your local public with the language or morals of least civil among us. Bar language and jokes, belong at the bar, not in picture books for little children.
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