Oh for *** sake! When was the last time a kid said twit?? 1950?? This just reminds me of the furore caused by some sad gits during Springwatch. Kids swear. End of.

I can't believe a book aimed at 10 year olds and over has that word in the first place! (Again proving the north/south theory, I am up north). I would definitely consider it as offensive as the c-word!  

That's no excuse for using it in a children's book.  My 9 year old doesn't swear and I've never heard my 14 year old son swear either.  I don't swear in front of my own mom and dad (just the odd bloody hell).  That's the way I was brought up and that's the way I bring my own kids up.  If more parents complained about some of the foul-mouthed kids around at the moment, society would be a little bit more pleasant.

(Off my soap-box now)

aurora72:

Kids swear. End of.

yes they do and if they do it around my hearing they get told to button it!!!

How times change ...I remember a furore around Enid Blyton starting a sentence with "And"....

Interesting, the old north/south divide, isn't it?  I had no idea what this word "tw*t" was so offensive, although I don't use it myself.  If I had read that book to a child before all the controversy, I would have struggled to have remembered what it meant if the child asked.

Whereas c**t, more in common use in the south I know, I wouldn't be happy to see in a book aimed at younger readers.

Thank goodness the users of this forum are grown up enough to have civilised discussions about things!.

I live in Newcastle and always thought it meant twit or idiot until sometime last year when I was on UKScrappers forum and sweetwater scrapbooking had it starred out in the middle. Apparantly it is also a goldfish's baby? From the thread I read I thought it was a rude word for a lady's parts.

I've heard it used a lot but then lots of people swear. I don't often swear myself unless I'm drunk or really angry.

I'm a Northerner and don't find it as offensive as the c word, which I think is really awful, and I wouldn't necessarily use it but wouldn't get all worked up over someone else using it.  I used it once as a child because I'd heard my friend's dad use it, and thought it was just like saying twit, and my parents went bollisitic so that kind of coloured my view, but then, I only ever said bloody as an adult until I married into the army...believe me you ain't hear bad language until you've lived on an army base, and that's just the wives!!  A few more expletives crept in but I do hate swearing.  It doesn't sound clever which is why I think a lot of youths do it, to appear 'cool'.  As for the books, my Megan is nearly 10 and has just started reading Jacqueline Wilson books and in fact brought up the subject of the language used in them, she told me that she'd noticed that there was always a bad word, these were git and slag. We kind of established that yes, they were not nice words to use but the author was using them to make a point in the story.  I mean, I read books that use the c word but I have never complained!  If you look at Lady chatterley for an example..well, if you changed all the swear words in that, you wouldn't have a book would you?

I must admit that I hate the word, but no-where near as much as I hate the word c**t!  I admit some children do swear alot and I hear it at work from the little darlings who think it's fun to dial 999 and then shout obscenities down the phone..... but if you have brought your children up not to swear, then I don't think you should have to read it in a book.  My parents never swore in front of me when I was a child, and I hate to hear parents swear when they have their children around them, whether it's at home or in the street.  Yes your kids will pick words up at school, but I don't think adults need to encourage them.

I am pleased the word in the book has been changed, as I class it as a swear word, but am amazed it took pressure from one supermarket over a complaint by one customer.  The power of the buyer eh??

Gosh I sound just like my mother.

lisahardy:

but if you have brought your children up not to swear, then I don't think you should have to read it in a book. 

 But no one has to read it. It's not on a school's required reading list. MAybe one day books will have warnings and classifications like there are with films.

firepoppy:

lisahardy:

but if you have brought your children up not to swear, then I don't think you should have to read it in a book. 

 But no one has to read it. It's not on a school's required reading list. MAybe one day books will have warnings and classifications like there are with films.

Could be.  There are books that have graphic sex scenes, or rape scenes, violence, racist words and it's not a pleasure to read those bits but it IS imperitive to the story, so we have to accept them or not read them.  Books reflect real life and unfortunately all these things are real.  I'm not about to say to my children, go ahead call someone a t*** or a slag, but if she's reading the book and comes away afterwards knowing that that character is not a nice piece of work and has had the sense to talk to me about it and knows that it's not acceptable to use it, then all well and good, surely?

firepoppy:

 But no one has to read it. It's not on a school's required reading list. MAybe one day books will have warnings and classifications like there are with films.

Yes I can see where you're coming from too, but does that mean that parents would have to read every book their child wants to read, first, just to make sure it contained suitable language? At the end of the day, when you buy a childs book, you don't expect it to have obscenities in it.

firepoppy:

MAybe one day books will have warnings and classifications like there are with films.

There has been an on-going debate about this for the past couple of months.  Some publishes want to introduce 'age banding' on children's novels.  There are many authors against it for various reasons.  Not least, the fact that all children develop at different levels, what 12 year old will want to be seen with a book that is labelled 'for 8-9 year olds'?  What about kids that speak English as a second language or have learning difficulties?  

The following is taken from The Telegraph:

From the autumn, book covers will bear a sign stating they are intended for readers aged 5+, 7+, 9+, 11+ and 13+/teen.

The guidelines are being introduced by leading publishers but have caused such dismay amongst the literary community that more than 80 authors, illustrators, librarians, teachers and booksellers have joined together in protest.

An online petition at www.notoagebanding.org says that the idea is "ill-conceived" and "damaging to the interests of young readers".

It goes on: "We take this step to disavow publicly any connection with such age-guidance figures, and to state our passionately-held conviction that everything about a book should seek to welcome readers in and not keep them out."

Signatories include Michael Rosen, the current Children's Laureate, and best-selling authors Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson and Terry Pratchett.

Mr Pullman told The Daily Telegraph: "I don't mind anybody having an opinion about my books. I don't mind a bookseller deciding they are for this age group or that, or a teacher giving one of my books to a child because they think it is appropriate.

"But I don't want to see the book itself declaring officially, as if with my approval, that it is for readers of 11 and upwards or whatever. I write books for whoever is interested. When I write a book I don't have an age group in mind.

"I have had letters from children of seven who say they have read all the way through His Dark Materials and they have an astonishing knowledge of it. But not every child is the same. A child of nine might be tentative and unsure about reading, and to give them a book that says 9+ will reinforce their sense of failure. The book should be suited to the individual child."

Anyone unsure as to whether a particular book is appropriate should ask the bookseller, Mr Pullman said.

"There are lots of clues on the cover, but if they are unsure they can always ask a specialist. Booksellers know the books they have for sale, they know their readers and they can talk to a parent or grandparent who comes in. If a grandparent says, 'My granddaughter is a very advanced reader but rather timid and scared by monsters,' then they can advise."

Mr Pullman's own publisher, Scholastic, has agreed not to put age banding on his books. "A month or so ago I had a letter saying books were going to have this. I wrote back and said, 'Mine aren't.' They were very good and said if I had a problem, then they wouldn't do it. But, talking to other authors, I discovered that not everybody was in my position.

"I signed this petition because I believe passionately in what it says. It is an act of solidarity not only with other authors, but with booksellers and librarians. It is not precisely a campaign, because a campaign has an aim which it seeks to achieve. We have already achieved our aim, which is to say publicly that publishers can do this if they want to, but not in our name."

Listened to a debate on Jeremy Vine today - GP Taylor vs Bel Mooney.  Good contrary viewpoints on his website:

Anne Fine, former Children's Laureate, against

The branding (for that is what it is) of every children's book with an irremovable age suggestion is an idea that could only spring from people with no knowledge of children and little idea of how a reader is born.

Anne Fine is one of many authors who have expressed concerns

Children read up and read down. They read over and over again. They read the same book at two different ages and get something totally different out of the experience each time.

They identify with characters who are older, and with those who are younger - the reason authors go to such trouble not to pin ages onto their characters.

Children differ. Some race ahead with interests and reading skills. Why should they be held back because, at eight, they want to read something that might be marked 11+? ("Are you sure that's not too old for you, dear?")

Why should the child of eight who struggles with dyslexia, or has English as a second language, or learning difficulties of any sort (and they are legion) struggle to the end of a book and feel their sense of achievement turn to humiliation as they see 5+ on the back?

This is why nearly 1,000 authors and illustrators have already shown their disapproval by signing up to www.notoagebanding.org, and over 2,000 professionally interested people are among the thousands who have also signed up to support them.

These are not stickers. They are clearly printed numbers. Children are taught to study covers. Age guidance is readily available already. This is merely a stupid, cruel idea invented by some marketing maven who thinks only of the convenience of supermarket shelf stackers and nothing of the way in which children come to books.

And it's commercial suicide. If the British publishing industry were looking for the very best way to kill the goose that lays their golden eggs, this would be it.

And The Publishers' Association, for: 

Each year, more than 9,500 new children's books are published.

The Publishers Association believes the guidance will benefit children

The majority - 55% - are bought by someone other than a parent, usually as a gift. There are some wonderful children's bookshops in the UK where specialist advice on what to buy is readily available.

But just as many children's books are now sold in High Street outlets and in supermarkets. How do we help those adults who aren't familiar with the world of books, and where specialist advice isn't to hand, find the right present?

The Publishers Association's research shows that 86% of adults - both "heavy" and "light" book buyers - said they would welcome age guidance on children's books as one of several tools to help them choose fiction.

Forty per cent even said that age guidance would help them buy more books.

Age guidance, which is open-ended (5+, 7+ etc), will appear in small, discreet type on the back cover of children's fiction, next to the barcode.

It is, along with the cover, illustrations, the "blurb", and design, one of several tools designed to help adults who are unsure what to buy and need extra guidance.

We don't want to miss out on being given a book because the adult doesn’t know where to start. Nor do we want a child to be put off reading for life by a book that they can't cope with.

And we certainly don't want adults to default to buying computer games or DVDs (which, incidentally, all carry age guidance) because they are not sure which book to buy.

Must say, I see arguments for and against on both sides...

annie130:

Must say, I see arguments for and against on both sides...

Me too Annie - I heard Bel Mooney and GP Taylor too.  GP Taylor had totally turned his thoughts around - it will be interesting to see what happens and if schools notice any difference in what books children will read.