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From: Miriam Lang Budin <miriammeister_at_gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:59:34 -0500
The book which I have had the most trouble, in this regard, is the brilliant Rita Garcia-Williams' NO LAUGHTER HERE, which deals with the female circumcision (or mutilation...) of a pre-pubescent girl.
I read the book in 2004, during my term of service on the Newbery Award Committee. I liked it so much that I thought of nominating it for the Newbery. I found it well-written, accessible, nuanced, passionate and pitched well to an audience the same age as the circumcised girl and her best friend. That is to say, it was suitable for the kids using our children's room (birth through 5th grade).
But.
Was this a book I wanted kids to stumble upon casually? Or was it something I wanted available *in case they had questions* about female circumcision? And--despite my frequent assurances to parents that kids should be able to read anything they want because if read things they "weren't ready for" the content would fly over their heads--I couldn't bring myself to put NO LAUGHTER HERE out into our collection as if it were just any old work of contemporary fiction. And because of the fraught content, I decided it wasn't a Newbery Award contender.
I felt *so *uncomfortable. And I was uncomfortable with my discomfort. I couldn't make a decision about placing the book that I couldn't argue myself out of, even as I was deciding. I ended up putting it into our JPARENT section with our "Books on Tough Topics". Almost every book in that collection is a picture book, though. It really doesn't fit there and I wince whenever I think about it. I also wince when I think about an unsuspecting kid or parent taking the book home from the general fiction stacks and--only later--discovering the subject matter.
I am still unhappy with my reactions to the book.
No one has ever asked me for a book about female circumcision in the last seven years, by the way...
Any comments?
Miriam
Miriam Lang Budin Head of Children's Services Chappaqua Library, NY
Received on Mon 21 Nov 2011 10:59:34 AM CST
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:59:34 -0500
The book which I have had the most trouble, in this regard, is the brilliant Rita Garcia-Williams' NO LAUGHTER HERE, which deals with the female circumcision (or mutilation...) of a pre-pubescent girl.
I read the book in 2004, during my term of service on the Newbery Award Committee. I liked it so much that I thought of nominating it for the Newbery. I found it well-written, accessible, nuanced, passionate and pitched well to an audience the same age as the circumcised girl and her best friend. That is to say, it was suitable for the kids using our children's room (birth through 5th grade).
But.
Was this a book I wanted kids to stumble upon casually? Or was it something I wanted available *in case they had questions* about female circumcision? And--despite my frequent assurances to parents that kids should be able to read anything they want because if read things they "weren't ready for" the content would fly over their heads--I couldn't bring myself to put NO LAUGHTER HERE out into our collection as if it were just any old work of contemporary fiction. And because of the fraught content, I decided it wasn't a Newbery Award contender.
I felt *so *uncomfortable. And I was uncomfortable with my discomfort. I couldn't make a decision about placing the book that I couldn't argue myself out of, even as I was deciding. I ended up putting it into our JPARENT section with our "Books on Tough Topics". Almost every book in that collection is a picture book, though. It really doesn't fit there and I wince whenever I think about it. I also wince when I think about an unsuspecting kid or parent taking the book home from the general fiction stacks and--only later--discovering the subject matter.
I am still unhappy with my reactions to the book.
No one has ever asked me for a book about female circumcision in the last seven years, by the way...
Any comments?
Miriam
Miriam Lang Budin Head of Children's Services Chappaqua Library, NY
Received on Mon 21 Nov 2011 10:59:34 AM CST
