Welcome to Banned Books Week! Carolyn Mackler’s 2003 novel, The Earth, My Butt, and Other Round Things, received a Printz Honor Award and has been lauded for the realistic way Mackler discusses body issues, particularly big butts.
In 2008, however, The Earth was banned from an entire school district. As Mackler describes, ” The superintendent had banned the book from an entire school district. And he was responding to a parent who was offended by some words, who had not read the book, but had flipped through it and seen profanities.” (http://www.bookslut.com/features/2009_12_015466.php)
Virginia is the heavy girl in a family of thin people. Her parents are certain that she would be happier if she lost ten or twenty pounds. Virginia suspects that it’s they who would be happier if she were slim. It breaks her heart.
Contrast Virginia’s situation with that of the saucy girl in Meghan Trainor’s “I’m All About That Bass.” She’s flaunting the sexy and the profane, with some motherly advice that Virginia could have used:
Yeah my mama she told me don’t worry about your size
She says, “Boys like a little more booty to hold at night.”
You know I won’t be no stick figure silicone Barbie doll
So if that’s what you’re into then go ahead and move along
-Diane Colson, currently reading Aftermath by Jen Alexander