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When I hear words like “labia” and “scrotum,” I laugh.

I’m not exactly sure why, but if I ventured a guess, I’d say it has something to do with feeling ashamed of my body parts as a child.

Well many people don’t feel the same way.

Apparently the word “scrotum” appears 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.

Many elementary school librarians are outraged. Morally outraged. And they want to ban the book from schools.

Personally, I think this is much ado about nothing. As Pat Scales, a former chairwoman of the Newbery Award committee, said, “The people who are reacting to that word are not reading the book as a whole. That’s what censors do— they pick out words and don’t look at the total merit of the book.”

I know people want to protect their children, but doesn’t this seem absurd? Is this really going to corrupt young minds?

Isn’t there a difference between watching Jenna Jameson sucking on some guys scrotum, and seeing the word appear twice in what many consider a great children’s book?

Many will say there isn’t a difference or that the difference is slight. I say to those people: labia, penis, vagina, scrotum, clitoris.

Technorati Tags: scrotum, newberry medal, the higher power of lucky, susan patron, jenna jameson

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