Censorship Alive and Well

Well, I know this has been blogged to death, but I just had to put my two cents in. This year's Newbery Medal winner is The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron. It is also the latest book to be targeted by censors. Why? Because of the word "scrotum". Which, in the book, refers to the place a dog got bitten by a snake. People are upset because they feel the word will cause children to ask inappropriate questions. Well, geez. That's what kids do. And if they don't know what a scrotum is by the time they're eight years old, they damn well should. There's nothing wrong with telling kids the proper name for body parts. It's not like the book actually discusses sex. It's on a dog for goodness sake! I cannot even fully express my disbelief and horror at the librarians who are refusing to stock the book because of ONE WORD. It's not even a bad word at that. Thankfully, as far as I know, this stupidity has been confined to south of the border. If anyone knows of any Canadian instances of censorship, feel free to correct me.