There is great debate about the genre of "Young Adult" novels out there. Not so much as to what constitutes a YA book but as to what is appropriate for the age group. YA books tend to market towards the 13 - 16 year old crowd and they're a difficult group to please. They want books that represent their world and don't bother trying to be "hip" or "hot" or whatever the current term is. By the time you've written your book, it won't be the current term.

Which is why The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler seemed to appeal to the YA crowd. It wasn't trying to be cool, it represented the YA world--and quite realistically too, if you ask the readers--and it was genuinely enjoyable. So what about the book would cause such a fury to have it banned?

The story is about Grade 7-10-Sophomore Virginia Shreves, who lives in Manhattan and attends a prestigious private school. She lives by her 'Fat Girl Code of Conduct.' She has a budding romance with Froggy the Fourth, but she doesn't want his wandering hands to feel her fat. Her baggy clothing helps her to "hide." Her mother, Dr. Phyllis Shreves, is an adolescent psychologist obsessed with her imperfect daughter's weight, and her father is rarely around. Her older sister joined the Peace Corps to escape mom, and brother Byron is big man on the Columbia campus-until he's suspended for date rape. Finally, Virginia stands up to her mother and takes charge of her life.

Parent groups felt that this book was not appropriate for the age group because of the language content--a certain amount of swearing in the book--or the frank discussions of sexuality. And indeed, the book was banned in schools and libraries for a time. But students and readers immediately took up arms against those challenges.

When Winters Mill High School in Westminster, Maryland responded to parental banning, the students took up a petition to have the book put right back on the shelves. The students won.

“We’re going to be adults soon, and we’re mature enough to read that book,” countered Winter Mills junior Crystal Gardner in the December 7, 2009 Baltimore Sun.

That sentiment was echoed in all school districts and with assistance from the ACLU, the students have managed to get the book reinstated.

If you would like to read The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, you can find a copy available through all online book sellers, or locally throughJoseph-Beth Booksellers in the Lexington Green Mall on Nicholasville Road or Barnes & Noble in the Hamburg Pavilion Shopping Center on Man o' War Blvd.

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