Latina children's and YA author Meg Medina's newest book Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass doesn't quite sit well with a school principal. Because the book has the word "Ass" in the title, the principal thinks it is inappropriate for tweens and early teens. Read more . . . reposted from Meg's blog.
Let me start by saying that I am not making this up.
This week I was officially uninvited to speak on bullying at a middle school due to the title of my latest YA novel, YAQUI DELGADO WANTS TO KICK YOUR ASS.
The timing could not have been more ironic. September is the month when the American Library Association celebrates Banned Book Week, our annual reminder about the importance of intellectual freedom.
Sure, the title has raised eyebrows – as I knew it would. But the
title of my book wasn’t an issue several months ago when I was
contracted to be part of the school’s anti-bullying event. YAQUI
DELGADO WANTS TO KICK YOUR ASS is the story of girl’s unraveling as she
navigates being in the crosshairs of a physical and emotional abuser. I
had planned to talk about my own experience at the hands of a bully
long ago – and all that the experience robbed from me. Then, as now,
there were no easy answers, no clear path out of the torment that I
couldn’t trust the adults around me to stop. I had also planned to talk
about how that ugly sliver of life became fiction and about how writing
and books help us make sense of our life experiences, good and bad.
But
last Friday, I received a painful email from the teacher who had
reached out to me in the first place. She was apologetic as she
explained that her principal needed reassurances. He needed to be sure
that I would not state the name of my novel. Or show a slide of the
cover. Or use “coarse language” during the presentation. These were
fifth through eighth graders from a community that was described as
“mixed” and who might not appreciate bad language.
I took a deep breath.
Here is part of my reply:
“…For me to come to your school and distance myself from my work
feels disrespectful of me as an author, but worse, it feels dishonest in
dealing with the students, most especially those who are on the
receiving end of harassment that already makes them feel ashamed. If I
refuse to even name my book or tell them that the title comes from
hearing those awful words firsthand, I would only be adding to that
shame.As you mention in your email, you see this firsthand
every day. I believe that one way we adults can help is to acknowledge
the reality of what our kids are experiencing…”
In an effort to be fair, I suggested sending home a note to let the Concerned Adults opt out for their students. No dice. The ax fell yesterday when the principal emailed me to say
that our visit was cancelled. He explained that although he’d once been
an English teacher, he had “other considerations” as a school principal.
Wow, I wanted to ask.
What happened? And what could those considerations be, exactly, especially when the stakes are so high?
I’ll
say only this: I make absolutely NO APOLOGIES for the title of my
book. The title is bold and troubling, and it suggests exactly what’s
inside. Besides, we can fret all we want about the word
ass,
but that word isn’t the real trouble, is it? What’s hurting our kids is
the savagery on their phones, and Facebook pages and in their
classrooms. That, and the reluctance of those around them to step up
and do the tough work of pulling the issue out into the open and talking
about what bullying really looks and sounds like and about its
radioactive impact that lasts for years into the future.
That’s what YAQUI DELGADO WANTS TO KICK YOUR ASS is about. It’s not
just a book with a coarse word in the title. The story tries to get at
the truth of what our young people are dishing out or receiving. And
most important to me, it’s a book that might have helped a kid like
12-year-old
Gabrielle Molina before she decided to take her own life earlier this year.
Read her story and ask yourself this: Would Gabrielle’s parents and teachers have objected to her reading a book with the word
ass in the title if they knew it might have helped her survive?
My challenge to you is read the book and share it with tweens and teens - particularly those that face bullying at home, school, or in their community!
The National Latino Children's Literature Conference (March 13-14, 2014) and is a great way to network and connect with Latino authors and illustrators, literary agents, literacy experts, librarians and other educators working with Latino families. With the renewed focus this year in the publishing world on the publication of Latino children's and young adult literature, this conference is very timely. 
