Posted by Charles on December 31, 2005 at 10:56:01 from 81.157.245.27 user Charles_Coull.
In Reply to: Re: Bowlderising AR (was Political Correctness was AR v HL) posted by Jeremy Kriewaldt on December 31, 2005 at 09:45:09:
Yes but the issue here is that we are adults discussing a children's author!
I do not fundamentally disagree with either of you. I accept that this is a difficult area but I do not think that either of you has addressed my point. What is the effect on the new child reader possibly from an ethnic group that finds the term grossly offensive? These are the sorts of high flown discussions that are always taking place here. To such a child all that they see is a word that they know is offensive. In the worst context they may have come to the books to try and escape an environment where the word is being used against them as part of a sustained episode of racial bullying. We are expecting that they will instantly work through these issues and be able to have the sort of informed discussion that is happening here. What happens when they report that they have just read a book that uses the word to a parent? Can we assume that they will have the time or inclination to read the books and engage in the sorts of conversation that we have here?
Were we discussing an adult book I would not even be on this thread. I agree in the adult context with all the points made here. These books are read by and should be accessible to young children and I think that there is therefore a very important difference. I read these books to my kids first time round. I didn't substitute the word but took a moment to explain the context issue. One of the delights of being a child reader is to be able to explore worlds on your own. The very fact that we are having this discussion suggests to me that unless we do consign the books to study by adults there is a problem here that the simple “censorship” label will not cover. I would like them to be available to as wide an audience as possible perhaps the answer is that this is simply not possible.