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Lane Smith's Use of the Word 'Jackass' Stirs Controversy <br />Log In to your Account <br />Home Print Issue <br />Reel ews Articles <br />Technology Supplements <br />Newsletters <br />Page 1 of 3 <br />Nevrslsller Sulrseril iionst <br />Blags RSS lobs <br />IAny time J Search J <br />SUBSCRIBE TO SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL R <br />Lane Smith's Use of the Word 'Jackass' Stirs <br />Controversy <br />Share lORSS 1 Subscription 1 Reprint /License 1 Print 1 Entail <br />By Lauren Barack October 21, 2010 <br />While Lane Smith's It's a Book (Roaring Brook, 2010) elicits smiles for its <br />tongue -in -cheek story of three animals in this digital age, the picture book is <br />also gathering a few storm clouds for the proper name it assigns to a male <br />donkey. <br />Several librarians and quite a few readers have posted on <br />listservs —and one even sent an email directly to Smith — <br />pointing out their concern with the word Jackass, the name <br />given to a character who, in this world of tweets, texts, <br />and blogs, just can't figure out what to do with a printed <br />hook. <br />"Do I personally think the use of that word makes the book <br />inappropriate for certain grade levels ?" asks Terri Street, <br />the school librarian at Longfellow Middle School in Norman, <br />OK, who has the book in her collection and will be using it <br />during an all -day read -aloud later this month. "No, but I certainly understand <br />those librarians who feel that their clientele would have a problem with it." <br />On the School Library Media & Network Communications Listserv, or <br />LM_NET, where Street and other librarians converse online, one school <br />librarian recently posted that her administrators suggested she blacken the last <br />three letters of the donkey's name to make it more palatable for the school's <br />students, bringing calls of censorship to the list. <br />This discussion has taken place over books in the past [including] In The Night <br />Kitchen (Harper & Row, 1970), as well as The Higher Power of Lucky (5 & 5, <br />2006)," says Barbara Flehn, a library media educator with Western Kentucky <br />University's School of Teacher Education, who is using the book to discuss <br />censorship in class. When the discussion comes again and again I keep <br />wondering have we forgotten our professional ethics and core values." <br />Even reviewers on Amazon are attacking the book, with one person with the <br />name tiggerteacher giving the book one out of five stars. "It pains me greatly <br />that unnecessary word play and /or language is not only sneaking into kids' <br />picture books —in books like this one, it's the centerpiece," the reviewer wrote. <br />"Imagine a 7 year old imitating the text by repeating, 'it's a book, jackass,' to a <br />classmate, librarian, or parent. The author knows it will happen. The publisher <br />has to know it, too. Teachers will catch heck from parents if this finds a home in <br />a classroom." <br />Margaret Burke from Spokane, WA, gave the book two out of five stars. "I <br />usually love Lane Smith's books but was disappointed with the word jackass in <br />the first page," she wrote. "I will NOT put this hook in my library collection." <br />Another person says it's an adult book because it ends with an expletive. <br />Evoking a similar uproar over Susan Patron's use of the word "scrotum" in her <br />Newbery Award- winner, The Higher Power of Lucky, the reaction to It's a Book <br />does confuse its author a bit —as he assumes most readers know the kind of <br />stories he produces. <br />"The thing is, if you look at my backlist, all of my books are a bit cheeky and <br />subversive," says Smith, by email. "They are not for everyone. 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