Book Reflection - Books on Trial

I just finished reading Books on Trial: Red Scare in the Heartland, by Shirley Wiegand and Wayne Wiegand. The book description on Amazon reads:

Between the two major red scares of the twentieth century, a police raid on a Communist Party bookstore in Oklahoma City marked an important lesson in the history of American freedom. Shirley A. Wiegand and Wayne A. Wiegand share the compelling story of this important case for the first time. They reveal how state power--with support from local media and businesses--was used to trample individuals' civil rights during an era in which citizens were gripped by fear of foreign subversion.

Richly detailed and colorfully told, Books on Trial is a sobering story of innocent people swept up in the hysteria of their times. It marks a fascinating and unnerving chapter in the history of Oklahoma and of the First Amendment.

If you have an interest in any of the things listed above I highly recommend it.

I was very interested to see all the different types of organizations which came out in support for and opposition to the defendants in the case. It seems a lot of individuals as well as groups were vocal and ranged in philosophy from the KKK to various worker's unions. But one group that was amazingly quiet during this period were librarians. And the Wiegands spelled it out that absence for those who didn't notice it, on pages 188-90:

Despite the potential impact of the cases on library services and collections, however, the nation's library community was noticeably silent. The American Library Association had approved a Library Bill of Rights in 1939, but had not yet mobilized efforts to combat censorship[...]
In the December issue of P.L.C. Bulletin (organ of the leftist Progressive Librarians Council), Ralph T. Esterquest, of Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study, expressed his surprise at how librarians seemed "unmoved by the fact that...fascist methods are today the official means of suppressing a free people" in Oklahoma[...]"Let us should to our readers,[...]Read-Read-Read! Fine out what the pygmy minds have forbidden you to know."

So what happened in the psyche of America's librarians that turned them into the anti-censorship-intellectual-freedom-beasts at which Esterquest hinted?

I tried to figure out an answer to this question a couple years ago when I was one of several librarians interviewed for a doctoral student's dissertation entitled, How government mandated policies affect those responsible for their implementation: the USA PATRIOT ACT and Academic Libraries. In fact prior to this reflection on the Wiegand's book I hadn't really thought about the dissertation or tried to track it down. As I told the researcher for the dissertation - there was a time when librarians, by and large, followed the loyalist line - regardless of what that line was, but my educated guess was World War II changed the hearts and minds of librarians and how they viewed their role in being vocal during times of book 'censorship', challenges and even a wider world of social injustices. After all WWII did that for a lot of people...

There are those who ask why should librarians and library groups make policies or public statements regarding topics outside the realm of librarianship or even why ALA goes full force regarding banned material. And they are good questions -- and ones I've found myself asking on occasion. I mean don't we have enough issues in libraries? Do we really need to go sticking our nose in other people's messes? Perhaps we are making up for lost time and for not speaking up in the past. Or because we are in a service field we are wanting help anyone we can in any way we can -- and at times it is just words of support.

I try very hard to keep my political/personal me away from the professional me - because I don't want to isolate anyone that I might be able to assist. However, reflecting on Books on Trial and reading through the dissertation for which I was interviewed has provided me with a resolution for this coming secular year.

I resolve to encourage friends, family and colleagues to more civic participation - regardless of what color their political affiliation (red/blue/neon green) -- because all that matters is that they participate and realize we all have a stake in it.

What do you think?

Oklahoma & 2 kings in the news again...

Found this via Lundentoons.
Seems folks in Pennsylvania (?) area didn't watch any news a couple of years ago. Because the hearted over kiss of King & King is terrorizing parents who don't pre-screen books for their children.

Storytime ceased abruptly when the picture book Eileen Issa was reading her 2 1/2-year-old son surprisingly ended with two men marrying and smooching....

Well I guess since the kiss is on the last page it didn't end *that* abruptly.

''I saw them at the altar and I said, 'This can't be what I'm thinking,''' Eileen Issa said, recalling illustrations of the prince holding hands with and kissing his new husband. ''I was sick.''

Ok, well maybe the library was hiding the information about the subject of the book -- and given it's a very lengthy book the mother didn't have time to skim it in the library before checking it out.

''King & King'' is in the children's corner of the library. The only mention of its homosexual content is a small reference on the copyright page. The library's computer system also notes the classification.

...hmmm... Well let me see for myself...







Ooookay. Well surely they'll talk about about how it was handled in Oklahoma

...Lawmakers in Oklahoma voted last year to withhold state funding from public libraries that don't place books containing homosexual themes in a separate section in response to complaints about ''King & King'' and other books....

Well that's not really correct.

Well -- then surely the library knew about all of this -- so why did they buy it if it doesn't meet the needs of any of their patrons?

Rhode said ''King & King'' was donated to the Lower Macungie Library more than two years ago -- the person who donated the book is not recorded in the system -- and has been checked out 24 times....

Oh...ok...well nevermind then - I'll just go back to reading my other RSS feeds.

Another reason for Harry Potter to be challenged

Found this via BoingBoing

The WaPo is reporting on a statement of JK Rowlings regarding a primary character in the series.

J.K. Rowling has outed one of the main characters of her best-selling Harry Potter series, telling fans in New York that the wizard Albus Dumbledore, head of Hogwarts school, is gay.

Speaking at Carnegie Hall on Friday night in her first U.S. tour in seven years, Rowling confirmed what some fans had always suspected -- that she "always thought Dumbledore was gay," reported entertainment Web site E! Online.
Rowling said Dumbledore fell in love with the charming wizard Gellert Grindelwald but when Grindelwald turned out to be more interested in the dark arts than good, Dumbledore was "terribly let down" and went on to destroy his rival.

That love, she said, was Dumbledore's "great tragedy."

"Falling in love can blind us to an extent," she said.

The audience reportedly fell silent after the admission -- then erupted into applause.

Banned book fast approaching on starboard bow!

Banned Books Week: Ahoy! Treasure Your Freedom to Read and Get Hooked on a Banned Book, September 29 - October 6, 2007

As you can maybe tell by the silliness above -- it's a pirate thing. Mind you -- I'm not one to turn my nose at a pirate (especially the one in the picture here)...but this is kind of a weak theme this year.

I mean at least the books used on the posters are better this year...titles featured on the posters include:

I Know Why a Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Adventures of Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey
The Giver, by Lois Lowry

But I really think they could have come up with a better theme - don't you? Maybe something along the lines of:

Banned Book Week: Read one of these and you're sure to piss off a person who has only read excerpts on the PABBIS website -- or maybe -- Banned Book Week: More thoughts, booze, drugs, and ambigious sexuality than that one kid's parent can handle!

... oh heck, I'm sure you can come up with a better theme than me.

TCCL says No Myspace 4 u!

KTUL is reporting that TCCL is saying No more Myspace at Tulsa Libraries

Tulsa - If you want to use the popular socializing website mySpace at any Tulsa County library, you will be out of luck.

The Tulsa Library Commission has banned the site from all of its computers. They have put up a pop-up block page if anyone attempts to log on.

The commission made the decision after receiving dozens of complaints from parents, saying the pictures posted on some of those sites are inappropriate.

"There were complaints about the content on mySpace images popping up on the screen so others in the library could see them," says Mike Meienheimer.

Some mySpace users are outraged by the decision.

"I'm 23 years old and now the library is telling me I can't get onto mySpace? I don't think they are my parent."...

I can understand a library wanting to block some content on Myspace -- after all it's a controversial site. And not all the content is suitable for children. Yet -- I know a lot of people who use it to keep in touch with family and friends and they don't post naughty pictures to their pages. I'll be interested to see how Tulsa handles blocking the content for all ages. I know there are some libraries which block MySpace only for individuals under the age of 18 because the thought is once they are an adult there's isn't much you can do - unless it violates state statutes.

Oh and KTUL should probably double check all their facts and spelling before clicking publish...I'm just saying...

Edit (8/21): Found an interesting discussion over at Bubbaworld about this issue.

Publisher asks libraries to return Alms for Jihad

Earlier this month The Chronical of Higher Education published an article concerning the libel lawsuit in Britain between Cambridge University Press and Saudi banker Khalid bin Mahfouz. Mahfouz claimed that the 2006 book Alms for Jihad:Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World published by Cambridge wrongly implicated him as a financer of terrorism in Sudan. As a result of the claim, Cambridge has offered to pulp all their copies Of Alms for Jihad and have requested that libraries return their copies so they can be destroyed. This has inevitably created a lot of concern amongst librarians here in the U.S. who are wondering whether they really do have to follow through with the request. The ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom issued a statement on their blog today which included the following:

Unless there is an order from a U.S. court, the British settlement is unenforceable in the United States, and libraries are under no legal obligation to return or destroy the book. Libraries are considered to hold title to the individual copy or copies, and it is the library's property to do with as it pleases. Given the intense interest in the book, and the desire of readers to learn about the controversy first hand, we recommend that U.S. libraries keep the book available for their users.

This entire situation brings up the question whether publishers actually have the right to ask libraries to return books. There have been other examples in the past where authors have been caught plagerizing. James Frey's A Million Pieces and Kaavya Viswanathan's How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life come to mind, however, those are examples of fiction titles as opposed to the non-fiction Alms for Jihad. In this particular case, there still seems to be a lot of disagreement as to whether the author was wrong about Mahfouz. These things are always open to interpretation and that case, a book should still be available at a library for readers to discern their own opinion. Any thoughts?

Round robin of Bermudez

The Examiner-Enterprise ran a community piece on the Bermudez Triangle controversy in Bartlesville. The mother who issued the challenge is quoted as saying

“I am so ecstatic that the parents have control over what goes into their children’s eyes,” Rader says. “I’m proud of the superintendent and the committee.

“I’m glad that I accomplished what I set out to do.”

What's that? Point out the inability of the Bartlesville school board to handle a book challenge? If so huzzah to you Ms. Rader. She continues...

Because of her success with this book, Rader says she wants to get the Bible back into schools in a history and literature class.

“And I’m working on that because I think it’s important for our kids to know where they came from,” Rader says. “I think the Bible’s a good foundation for our school. I think we’re way far from it and our kids are suffering.

And to her I ask which Bible will you be teaching? And will there be room for my Tanakh? The other thing -- I took a History of Christian Thought class in college -- let me tell you it's amusing watching an Irish Catholic try to explain to Southern Baptists the history of "The Church" thought and not have it turn into to a theology debate. If they do this in Bartlesville I suggest bringing popcorn it's a great show.

Maureen is quoted in the article as well

“I certainly don’t think the committee members are bad people — I think they’re just trying to do their jobs. But I also think that this decision was a bad one, and that the entire issue was mishandled. It seems, for example, that they violated policy by not informing the public of their actions. It was only because the librarians spoke up, and that I started the online campaign, that the public was ever notified. That’s what’s scary to me. A lot of these kinds of things happen and no one ever knows.”

and adds additional commentary on her blog as well

Now, as to what can be done . . .

In looking more into this matter (including speaking to anti-censorship king Chris Crutcher), really, Bartlesville has to fix Bartlesville. But nothing prevents me from talking about it and making the issues known. Or dancing about it, for that matter.

And she provides informative links for locals to get involved -- such as school board, ALA's rights to students and the Oklahoma ACLU.

So if you live, spend money, or anything else in or near Bartlesville drop the above folks a line and weigh in on the issue. And if you are a librarian double check your local policies on challenges -- use the ALA site on Dealing with Challenges to help you.

Here she comes to save the day...

Yeah yeah - read her post here. Don't worry Bartlesville - you can't help yourself so Maureen will show you how.

I need to go bathe a baby -- later.

Okie libraries to be mentioned on XM radio

Well there's good and bad press to every side of a story -- looks like Maureen is getting soom good press off of this still and Bartlesville is making the bad press. Maureen is going to be on "The Agenda with Joe Solmonese" XM Satellite Radio show

If any of you have XM radio give this a listen:

...Author Maureen Johnson, whose latest book for teens was banned by an Oklahoma school library because it features a lesbian relationship, will also appear on the show ...

Hmmmmm, has it actually been banned now? I thought it had been challenged but retained in the collection and placed on reserve shelving. But perhaps I missed a news story somewhere.

The Agenda airs live at 6 pm EST on XM's Channel 120

Card carrying comic defending member

Yeah! Woo hoo! w00t!11!! even.
I received my Comic Book Legal Defense Fund membership card in the mail yesterday. I signed up at their ALA booth (which was next to Marvel and across from DC). My husband laughed at me when I opened the envelope and shrieked with delite -- but I think he was secretly jealous he didn't get a card too. The picture on this post is what the card looks like -- cool huh?

So what is the CBLDF? Well from their about page:

The CBLDF exists to fight censorship and defend the first amendment rights of comic book professionals throughout the United States. In the past five years, the CBLDF has raised over $200,000 to pay expenses related to defending freedom of speech and expression, and the battle continues. ...

In recent years, police and prosecutors around the country have decided to crack down on comics. For cartoonists and their readers, it's a dire threat. The work accused of being allegedly "harmful to adults" includes comics by the best cartoonists of our time: Robert Crumb, Frank Thorne, Jaime & Gilbert Hernandez, Reed Waller, and many others.

Is there really a need for the CBLDF? The answer, unfortunately, is yes. 1996 and 1997 were busy years at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. The Planet Comics Case in Oklahoma City saw many tribulations between the bust in September of 1995 and the unfortunate end as the defendants accepted a plea to end their ordeal. Michael Diana lost his appeal to have his conviction as an "distribution of obscenity" overturned. Joe Lansdale, Tim Truman and Sam Glanzman found themselves having to defend against a suit by the Winter brothers for defamation and invasion of privacy ....

Want to know how to get a groovy card like mine? Try their membership page.

(btw -- I'm guessing the titles you read about in the Planet Comics Case would not be found in any library in Oklahoma...)

Let sleeping blogs lie?

As always - these thoughts are my own. No institutions or persons living or dead will or would ever necessarily agree with me.

As I linked to before Bartlesville has come to a conclusion regarding the Bermudez Triangle -- and it is reminiscent of another book controversy in Oklahoma.

Well the crusade to save the people of Bartlesville from themselves hasn't stopped. In fact Neil Gaiman has posted a letter from Maureen . For those not in the know Neil is a literary genius (seriously):

Bestselling author Neil Gaiman has long been one of the top writers in comics, and also writes books for readers of all ages. He is listed in the Dictionary of Literary Biography as one of the top ten living post-modern writers, and is a prolific creator of works of prose, poetry, film, journalism, comics, song lyrics, and drama.

And to have him comment on a challenge situation on his blog is tantamount to having Oprah add your product to her list of favorite things -- it will get noticed by a lot of folks. You can read the letter at his blog.

Something in particular that bothers me with Maureen's letter is the last two lines -- which reads:

I’ll probably go on trying to needle these idiots for a while yet. I can at least try to shame them some more.

Calling the decision makers idiots and trying to shame them isn't going to help get the book back on to open shelves. First off they have power and the ultimate authority and (even if they are idiots) only the tax payers and voters of Bartlesville can remove them from their positions of power. Secondly to be shamed you have to have the consciousness that you've done something improper -- the group that made this decision will probably never feel that because, I'm guessing, the vocal of the community does not believe that discussion of homosexuality (no matter how light and especially among students) is acceptable. The committee won't be shamed anymore than Maureen will be. If anything making this statement available in a public forum will probably push certain individuals try even harder to pull the book completely off the shelf -- by either changing curriculum, the collection development policy for the library, and or the process by which a book can be removed from the collection. After all -- this is an area with a southern state mentality and they don't liken to carpetbaggers telling them what to do (well unless it's certain circles and TABOR) ;-)

Instead of resorting to base instinct to attack the people who hold different thoughts -- what should be done, by open library stack proponents, is an education campaign. Perhaps start by tackling the myth as to the ability of teens to handle complex social situations (such as others have pointed out). Find the like minded people in Bartlesville who feel passionately about it and give them the tools they need to start an education campaign. This is exactly what the opposition groups of Maureen's do and they have a lot of success at it.

Remember -- similar topics are still on the public library shelves and it's important to keep them there because the public library serves a wider population than the school. Well -- at least I went to the public and local university library in mid/high school than I did the school library.

Go ahead tell me what you think -- I know you want to. :-)

Latest on Bermudez

Read the Porcelain Librarian's post on Bermudez and I'll post my comments later. :)

Dustbury reminds us of Tin Drum

Dustbury.com highlights an editorial in the Gazette and discusses the Tin Drum 10 year anniversary.

So where were you 10 years ago when you heard the first tap-tap-tap of the Tin Drum controversy?

I was getting ready to start library school. Not yet blogging and still reading the newspaper and watching the news for all my updates on the drama -- and also talking with professionals in librarianship to get their take on it. You can see my take on the movie at this old post.

Update: Bartlesville & Maureen Johnson

From author Maureen Johnson's blog (please be sure to click through and read the entire post)

...The second is that Ninja Librarian Susan Hunt was called in for a meeting. It was fairly clear that this was not going to be the best meeting, and that there would not be hugs and sloppy kisses all around. She decided that rather than back down, she would resign her position. And I quote:

“I have taught for 33 years and have now gone out doing what I know was right. I continue to stand by my original statement to you, Maureen. The committee headed by Vernon voted to remove your book without having read it. I did not lack patience in the process in revealing this. I have no doubt that had we not made this information public that the book would have been immediately removed.”

So there you have it. One book advocate punished, another leaves because she refuses to go along with this insane situation.

This afternoon, I called Janet Vernon yet again, but got no answer. So let me put my message here....

ALA asks about Bartlesville and Ms. Johnson

Where Is Bartlesville High School’s Bermudez Triangle?

Where Is Bartlesville High School’s Bermudez Triangle?
A series of blog posts by author Maureen Johnson claiming that her novel The Bermudez Triangle has been banned by the Bartlesville (Okla.) Mid-High has resulted in a May 10 Bartlesville Community Examiner-Enterprise story clarifying that the book is being reconsidered and not withdrawn. Johnson told the newspaper that a committee member had returned one of her phone inquiries May 4 to explain. “To be honest, I couldn’t get a lot of information about what was going on,” Johnson said.

Johnson began blogging about the controversy April 27, ... The Bermudez Triangle tells how the relationship between three high-school girlfriends shifts one summer as two of them begin to explore a romantic attraction to each other.

...

The final determination on the book will be made by Bartlesville Public Schools Superintendent Gary W. Quinn, who will take the committee’s recommendation into consideration after he reads the novel.

Update on Bartlesville and Bermudez

Porcelain Librarian has an update on the B&B.

The Bartlesville Mid-High has yet to actually ban Bermudez…it is still in the process of being reviewed...

Author John Green stopped by the above post to give his input and insight on the situation via the comments -- it's an interesting post and I encourage everyone to trek over there and add your thoughts.

Of course you can also follow the author's perspective on Maureen Johnson's webpage.

Bartlesville in the Bermudez Triangle

It's interesting to see the massive anti-banning blog campaign surrounding the Bermudez Triangle and Bartlesville Mid-High. This isn't the first book in Oklahoma to be challenged recently -- but it is the first one, that I've seen, that has prompted so many bloggers to weigh in so aggressively. Yeah sure the book that shall not be named got some press and so did the 6 happy feet-- but did they get a youtube post by an author.

Book challenge in Bartlesville

Author Maureen Johnson talks about having one of her books challenged in Bartlesville.

...For the past several weeks a committee headed by Mrs. Janet Vernon, Executive Director of Secondary Instruction for Bartlesville Public Schools, has been reconsidering the YA novel The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson. A challenge to the book was submitted to the school board on March 4, 2007. Yesterday, the Mid-High Principal and I appeared before the committee at 10:45. By 2:00 this afternoon, I was informed by [a BHS librarian and committee member] that the decision has been made to pull the book from the Mid-High library.

Well, well, well. Looks like I went and got myself banned! Apparently I have written something so dangerous that it can’t be contained on the shelf of a high school library.
...
One parent saw the book, and this is what she had to say in a letter to the school. I’ve reprinted the entire text as it was given to me, removing only the names:

I’m shocked and appalled at the lack of discretion, and moral decline in the selection of books at the Mid-High library. Homosexual content, unprotected sex, underage drinking, and reckless promiscuity are not values that belong in a school library. I understand there are parents or teens who are dealing with these issues, but not all parents want their kids exposed to this material. Personally, I would not endorse any of these types of book as “14-and-15-year-old-friendly.” Giving teenagers knowledge without guidance is irresponsible and dangerous. As a parent, I screen my 15-year-old’s television, Internet, video game, magazines, and books. There are things she’s not mature enough to handle, or are simply wrong for her. Parents are a child’s best line of defense in a world that rushes to grow them up too soon. This book, “The Bermudez Triangle” has no moral fiber, and wrongly promotes a “do whomever you want to discover yourself” mentality. There’s no mention of the myriad of diseases, pregnancy, destruction of friendships and lives that are very real consequences of a “sexual free-for-all” decision. I ask that his material be removed at once. You have a responsibility to the children at school to protect them and educate them. Let’s raise the bar a little higher, respect moral values and a parent’s right to guard that which has been entrusted to their care....

Be sure to read her entire post. It's always interesting to see an author's reaction to having a book attacked. And if it interests you -- Amazon shows the book with 4 1/2 stars.

Grabbing the book by the...

For those who still haven't heard the news the latest Newbery was featured in the NYTimes and not necessarily for the most flattering reason...

From the article:

The word “scrotum” does not often appear in polite conversation. Or children’s literature, for that matter.

Yet there it is on the first page of “The Higher Power of Lucky,” by Susan Patron, this year’s winner of the Newbery Medal, the most prestigious award in children’s literature. 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.

“Scrotum sounded to Lucky like something green that comes up when you have the flu and cough too much,” the book continues. “It sounded medical and secret, but also important.”

The inclusion of the word has shocked some school librarians, who have pledged to ban the book from elementary schools, and reopened the debate over what constitutes acceptable content in children’s books. The controversy was first reported by Publishers Weekly, a trade magazine.

On electronic mailing lists like Librarian.net, dozens of literary blogs and pages on the social-networking site LiveJournal, teachers, authors and school librarians took sides over the book. Librarians from all over the country, including Missoula, Mont.; upstate New York; Central Pennsylvania; and Portland, Ore., weighed in, questioning the role of the librarian when selecting — or censoring, some argued — literature for children.

“This book included what I call a Howard Stern-type shock treatment just to see how far they could push the envelope, but they didn’t have the children in mind,” Dana Nilsson, a teacher and librarian in Durango, Colo., wrote on LM_Net, a mailing list that reaches more than 16,000 school librarians. “How very sad.”...

And we all know the proper way to comment on an item is to take it out of context so here's the text of the page in which the word appears:

chapter 1. eavesdropping page 1

Lucky Trimble crouched in a wedge of shade behind the Dumpster. Her ear near a hole in the paint-chipped wall of Hard Pan's Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center, she listened as Short Sammy told the story of how he hit rock bottom. How he quit drinking and found his Higher Power. Short Sammy's story, of all the rock-bottom stories Lucky had heard at twelve step anonymous meetings--alcoholics, gamblers, smokers, and overeaters--was her favorite.

Sammy told of the day when he had drunk half a gallon of rum listening to Johnny Cash all morning in his parked '62 Cadillac, then fallen out of the car when he saw a rattlesnake on the passenger seat biting his dog, Roy, on the scrotum.

Lucky balanced herself with a hand above the little hole that Short Sammy's voice was coming out of. With her other hand, she lifted the way-too-curly hair off her neck. She noticed two small black birds, nearby, panting like dogs from the heat, their beaks open, their feathers puffed up. She put her ear to the...

Anyways -- the end of the Roy story is that Short Sammy realizes that even though the dog was bitten in the worse place imaginable it still fought back while him, Short Sammy, fled from the vehicle in a drunken stupor. That's how he realized he hit rock bottom.

So what is the Higher Power of Lucky about? According to ALA

The 2007 Newbery Medal winner is The Higher Power of Lucky written by Susan Patron, illustrated by Matt Phelan, published by Simon & Schuster/Richard Jackson.

In “The Higher Power of Lucky,” Patron takes us to the California desert community of Hard Pan (population 43). Ten-year-old Lucky Trimble eavesdrops on 12-step program meetings from her hiding place behind Hard Pan’s Found Object Wind Chime Museum & Visitor Center. Eccentric characters and quirky details spice up Lucky’s life just as her guardian Brigitte’s fresh parsley embellishes her French cuisine.

“‘Lucky’ is a perfectly nuanced blend of adventure, survival (emotional and physical) and hilarious character study... as well as a blueprint for a self-examined life,” said Newbery Medal Committee Chair Jeri Kladder. “Through Lucky’s experiences, we are reminded that children support one another just as needy adults do.”

My suggestion - if anything above offends you then don't check the book out and definitely don't read it. Oh and keep your dogs away from snakes...but if your dog is bitten by a snake try this site for help.