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Uncle Bobby's Wedding

LibraryLady

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LibraryLady
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Here is the reply of a librarian, asked to remove or segregate a children's book. I think it makes excellent reading.

Discussion?
 
From the letter:
Generally, there are about 30 words per page, and each page is illustrated.
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If there are illustrations of the wedding night, I think the concerned mother has a point. :rolleyes:
 
I got a chuckle from the original letter-writer's

marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman as stated in the Webster's dictionary and also in the Bible
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The Bible seems tacked on as an afterthought; it is Webster's who is the foremost authority on what is and is not marriage, but, oh yeah, the Bible offers support.

The Uses of Enchantment: the Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales is an excellent read. Recommended.
 
Gord_in_Toronto said:
Discussion? What's to discuss? :boggled:
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What's to discuss? How about the editorial standards of G.P. Putnam's Sons?

From the comments:

As the editor of UNCLE BOBBY'S WEDDING, I knew it was only a matter of time before it was formally challenged. And I had no allusions about librarians such as yourself serving as the shock troops... [emphasis mine -MdC]
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:eek: From a Senior Editor, no less.
 
LibraryLady said:
Sigh. I didn't catch that, Marquis. Even librarians are fallible.
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You have destroyed my faith in librarians. I will never be the same again.

But back on topic, it's an excellent letter, not only for its content, but for its tone. We should probably sticky this to the top of Politics and R&P to try and raise the level of discourse.

I would continue to serve as a counterpoint, of course.
 
BPSCG said:
That's not what you screamed at all of us at the last MidLantean JREF get-together right after your seventh - or was it your eighth? - boilermaker.
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You weren't at the last Midlantean JREF get-together. So there!

And it was only 5 boilermakers.
 
BPSCG said:
From the letter:
If there are illustrations of the wedding night, I think the concerned mother has a point. :rolleyes:
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Yes, well I think this would be a good place to actually investigate the evidence rather than just cast an aspersion, not?
 
Definitions 2-4, even as far back as 1960, could be stretched to include a wedding between two men.
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That’s effectively like arguing that because early instructions on compass construction didn't specify a dipole magnet then you could in theory still be following them if you used a monopole magnet.
 
LibraryLady said:
You weren't at the last Midlantean JREF get-together. So there!
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Heh - you obviously didn't notice the men in the black coats lurking in the shadows. Who do you think pays those guys?

And it was only 5 boilermakers.
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The videotapes in my possession say otherwise. I can sell them to you, or to the American Library Association investigators. They have expressed serious interest in obtaining them, for some reason. A number with several zeroes in it was being seriously negotiated when we last spoke. Strange people, those ALA investigators; I find them... unsettling.

But never mind all that; are you still shoving pornography down the throats of good Christian 5-year-olds? :)
 
A nearby bookstore has "Uncle Bobby's Wedding", so I will check it out tomorrow and report back on the nature of the illustrations. From the cover art, it looks like the happy couple are actually hamsters. I don't recall any hamsterphobia in the bible.

From Mr. Larue's email:

Your third point, about the founders' vision of America, is something that has been a matter of keen interest to me most of my adult life. In fact, I even wrote a book about it...
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:D

FWIW, the Niagara Falls (Canada) Public Library doesn't have this title listed in the online catalogue.
 
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196 said:
I don't recall any hamsterphobia in the bible.
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Book of Gertrude, Chapter 9:

"And the LORD did smite Zehosphabaz, and then declared to the people 'Thou shalt not eat of the meat of the hamster, for it is unholy in the eyes of the LORD. Neither shall you consort with the hamster, or allow the hamster or any of its works to be within the borders of the land which I have given to you.' Therily did the people of Sobozohab repent, and they cast down the golden hamster idols, and drove out the hamsters, and burned their works in the temple so that all would be clean again. And thus did Gertrude the prophet speak truly, for never shall a hamster defile the covenant of the LORD."
 
The Right to Free Speech is our treasure as Americans
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Sigh. Because none of the rest of us enjoy the same legal right, I suppose.

Anyway, it would be on the shelves in the UK, I would imagine.
 
I looked at the book. It was in a special section called "life skills". I'm not so sure the adults are hamsters. Maybe they are rats or guinea pigs. Chole, the main character, is definitely a little girl mouse.

The story sets up the close relationship between Chole and Uncle Bobby, then shows a "party" where everyone congratulates Uncle Bobby and his best friend Jamie. It shows Chole being sad because Uncle Bobby was going to get married. Uncle Bobby talks to Chole and explains that he loves Jamie and when people love each other they get married and have their own family. Then Uncle Bobby and Jamie take Chole for ice cream, and they basically have fun together just like old times. Finally there is the wedding (we see the audience gathered), and a drawing of Chole sitting between Bobby and Jamie admiring the sunset.

No wedding night, no stripper bar, nothing inappropriate. The book definitely "normalizes" same-sex marriage, but it is not about same-sex marriage. The book also "normalizes" interspecies families.
 
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