Oz and Ends

National Public Radio’s Weekend America went to kids at a library in Tucson to ask them what they thought of the opening of The Higher Power of Lucky, by Susan Patron. Those paragraphs include the word “scrotum.”

Several of the kids, like ten-year-old Lucky, didn't know what the word means. As neither did I at their age, as I recalled earlier. So this report saved me from a residual qualm of that great fear of adolescence: that everyone else is more sophisticated and having a better time than you.

People who object to the word appearing in the book would presumably say that kids should be ignorant at that age. Others would counter that we’re too prudish about select body parts already, that learning the word “scrotum” along with Lucky is not only harmless but beneficial. From an artistic point of view, it’s clear, Susan Patron has accurately portrayed the knowledge and curiosity of a child.

(Thanks to Diane Mayr for the tip about this broadcast.)

Publishers Weekly offers some interesting remarks from Susan Patron about how she came to write her Newbery-winning novel for the middle grades, The Higher Power of Lucky:

The genesis for Lucky goes back a number of years. Patron recalls a dinner at an ALA midwinter conference given by Dick Jackson, who had edited her earlier books. "Amy Kellman [one of the librarians at the dinner] asked me, "What are you working on?' I thought, 'Here's my chance to pitch this book.' I told them about it and they laughed at all the right places, and Dick said, in so many words, 'Send me some chapters and I'll send you a contract.'"

Pretty speedy path to publication, right? Well, not exactly. Patron says she ended up working on the book for 10 years. "Dick was very patient. Each time I'd send him a draft, he'd say, 'Not ready, not yet.' So I'd take another stab." Patron found a new direction for Lucky after her mother passed away. "I had this sense of being unmoored--it was a very surprising feeling. That gave the book its heart."

The Washington Post also reports on Patron's creative path: "For a long time she had the characters in her head but didn't know what they would go on to do. After her mother died a few years ago, she realized that her title character 'was really dealing with losing her mom.' The writing started to go faster at that point."