But now there is a new, potential controversy brewing regarding my picture book Gertrude and<\/strong> Alice and Fritz and Tom.<\/strong><\/p>\n The word \u201cPussy\u201d is used four times in the book- pages 4, 13, 35, and 61 and is one of the many affectionate names GertrudeandAlice had for each other.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The second listing for the word on urbandictionary.com is:<\/p>\n pussy<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n 1. Nice name for a cat<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n 2. \u00a0Slang for women’s genitals<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n 3. Cowardly<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The first listing is X rated so you’ll have to check it out yourself.<\/p>\n I first heard concerns about the use of the word from a friend of the book’s illustrator Tom Hachtman who had just read the book, saw the word and asked: \u201cPussy? This book really isn\u2019t for children, is it?\u201d His reply with a laugh: \u201cChildren don’t have your dirty mind!\u201d<\/p>\n Should I be concerned? What were the cat in the hat\u2019s real intentions\u00a0 or Miss Clavell’s when she turned out the lights? Not to mention all the goings on where the wild things are!<\/p>\n My first public reading of the book to a group of 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders in Oakland, CA was to happen a few weeks ago, but I had to postpone it temporarily. \u00a0However, I did get an e mail from the teacher who had invited me, asking me, at the request of the principal, if I would change “Pussy” \u00a0to “Pussycat” when I was reading the book to the children, “since the word now has developed a lot of negative connotations and our third graders are quite astute about picking up these things.” My, my the loss of innocence.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s not as if a form of the word hasn\u2019t been used in a children\u2019s story written more than 400 years ago. What the French called Le Ma\u00eetre Chat<\/strong>, or Le\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Chat Bott\u00e9\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>(Master Cat<\/strong> or The Booted Cat<\/strong>) , we know as Puss in Boots<\/strong>. But there must be incredible power in that “y” though Master and Booted Cat do sound a bit S&M.<\/p>\n Hey, GertrudeandAlice \u00a0had a rather steamy sexual relationship if their love notes to each other are any indication, not to mention some of Gertrude\u2019s\u00a0 works such as \u201cLifting Belly\u201d which is not about a chef gingerly handling the evening\u2019s pork appetizer! But did Alice’s nickname have sexual implications or was it truly just the feline diminutive which has been the name of thousands of cats in the English-speaking world: \u00a0lovable things that are warm and fuzzy?<\/p>\n Thank God Gertrude didn\u2019t decide to use a diminutive version of the \u201cC\u201d word for her sweety!\u00a0 Had she, this book really couldn\u2019t have been published or shipped without a plain brown wrapper.\u00a0 And the \u201clost generation\u201d thought there were issues with Joyce\u2019s Ulysses<\/strong>. Little did they know Gertrude and Alice and Fritz and Tom <\/strong>would appear on the literary horizon 80 years later!<\/p>\n Is this just a tempest in one of Alice\u2019s fine china teapots or a real controversy that the One Million Moms will glom onto to rid America of things that may taint our young? \u00a0Or a headline in both the newsprint and online editions of a mid-sized town in Illinois: \u201cSchool Librarian Removes Lesbian Couple Children\u2019s Book Because of Feline Reference!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Or an unexpected PR opportunity that will warrant an NPR and CNN appearance resulting in the sale of hundreds of books?<\/p>\n Maybe in the second edition \u201cPussy\u201d will have to change to \u201cMama Woojums,\u201d Alice\u2019s nickname whenever letters were exchanged between GertrudeandAlice and their friend Carl Van Vechten. (He was Papa Woojums and Gertrude was Baby Woojums.) But then again, how would urbandictionary.com\u00a0 define \u201cWoojums?\u201d<\/p>\n Baby, Papa and Mama Woojums<\/p><\/div>\n \u00a0woojums<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n 1. That which is left after the Woo has been expelled.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n 2. Native-American term for orgasm.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n 3. A \u00a0feeling of depression when home-made jam does not gel properly.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Never mind. I\u2019ll just leave the \u201cP-word.\u201d\u00a0 Rose is a rose is a rose, after all.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PS (courtesy of Tom Hachtman):<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/AA-RoseCatFnlCMYK-300x220.jpg\" "\\"AA-RoseCatFnlCMYK\\"")
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