Junk


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Posted by Margaret Ratcliffe on May 11, 1999 at 20:52:58 from p178-chaffinch-gui.tch.which.net:

I spoke at the last Northern AGM on this subject about which I feel most strongly.

In my opinion the Carnegie Committee have betrayed all children in bestowing the Medal on this book.

There is NO justification for children's fiction of this nature. Such topics are dealt with ad nauseum by every branch of the media anyway, in every school playground and on street corners.

To pretend the purpose of the book is educational is nonsense; the purpose of publishing the book was to provoke controversy and thereby increase sales and this was accomplished brilliantly with the aid of the Carnegie Committee. Shame on them.

A Yorkshire Post Review on 18July 1997 precised the story:

"...It's not long before the pair are initiated into smack and heroin. They begin shoplifting and drug dealing, and when there's no cash for a fix Gemma turns to prostitution, instructed by her new heroin-head friend Lily.

Lily gets pregnant and can't kick the habit. The baby is born a junkie like his mum, and Lily rubs heroin on his gums to quieten him. She even injects into a vein in her breast as the baby feeds from it..."

The Yorkshire Post continues:

"The cover of the book says it all. The seductive words picked out alongside the title are rave, party, hit, rush, sex, high. Others that equally describe the junkie condition such as squalor, breakdown and death are conspicuously absent."

I cannot and will not accept that this is in any way relaxing, enjoyable, leisure reading for a person of any age, let alone a child.

As the headline in the Yorkshire Post said: "Would you want this book in the house for your kids?"

If the answer is Yes, please don't put it on the same shelf as Pigeon Post.


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