Let’s say you’re a dad with a 9-year-old daughter who’s a good reader. You buy a copy of this new book "The Higher Power of Lucky" because it just won the Newbery Award. The book is for ages 9-12, but the Newbery is given to the top young adult novel of the year, so you figure you’re on safe ground.
She opens the book and reads this:
"Sammy told of the day when he had drunk half a gallon of rum listening to Johnny Cash all morning in his parked ‘62 Cadillac, then fallen out of the car when he saw a rattlesnake on the passenger seat biting his dog, Roy, on the scrotum... The question of Short Sammy’s dog’s scrotum settled into one certain brain crevice as she picked her way among the weedy bushes of the dry wash. Even though Lucky could ask Short Sammy almost anything and he wouldn’t mind, she could never ask about the story of Roy, since she had overheard it. If she asked about Roy, then he would know that she’d been eavesdropping at the anonymous twelve-step meetings...Scrotum sounded to Lucky like something green that comes up when you have the flu and cough too much. It sounded medical and secret, but also important, and Lucky was glad she was a girl and would never have such an aspect as a scrotum to her own body. Deep inside she thought she would be interested in seeing an actual scrotum. But at the same time — and this is where Lucky’s brain was very complicated — she definitely did not want to see one."
Oh, no.
You’ve been had. Scammed. You thought you we’re getting a young adult novel. What you got was a 58-year-old woman’s half-assed attempt to write like Harper Lee and Flannery O’Connor. That Newbery committee must have been so impressed with Susan Patron’s literary pretentions that they forgot 9-12-year-old children need "Charlotte’s Web," not "Wise Blood."
Now that Patron’s "The Higher Power of Lucky" is not being stocked by some schools, people are screaming about censorship and book banning. Sorry, but the issue is parental control.

Parents should decide when their daughter learns what a scrotum is, and many rightly don’t want their 9-year-old girl to ask that question just yet. So perhaps it’s best to not have this book on her school’s library shelf.
For many progressive thinkers, on Newbery committees and elsewhere, parents’ roles in their children’s lives should be diminished. Why should you be notified if your 15-year-old daughter is getting an abortion? It’s not your business, you’re just the parent.
I don’t have a personal quarrel with this book. My 6-year-old daughter has just started reading chapter books. She likes these Junie B. Jones books, which are slightly edgy, but OK with me. I just wonder why so many young adult novel writers feel compelled to write about such heavy topics.

That’s why Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket books are so popular. A 10-year-old reads these books and says "Yay! A book about adventure and fantasy! I was getting tired of all the books about suicide, bullying, burgeoning sexuality, divorce and dog scrotums."