Another example of book-banning. Not over critical race theory this time, though, but over a silly book that has depictions of cartoon butts and the words “butt” and “fart” in it.
Did I mention that no parents complained? This is just a silly little book that is in no way objectionable.
Butt you don’t have to take my word for it.
Mississippi is completely insane. That book is in my kid’s classroom and utterly unobjectionable.
I also notice that the reason the assistant principal was even teaching the class was that the principal, who subsequently fired him, had been scheduled to teach and didn’t show up!
Boy, I love it when I’m proven to be a rigid, intolerant old fogey! 
I would like to think there were plenty of books that could’ve been chosen about topics other than butts and farts. It is a stupid book. I’m sure it made the kids giggle - which the reader undoubtedly appreciated.
I think it shows poor judgment, but would not consider it a fireable offense. I guess my preference is that kids discuss butts and farts outside of class, instead of introducing it into the curriculum.
My WAG is that the principal is the one with a problem. Most likely, she was the one that convinced the superintendent to fire him. Someone who flakes out on an obligation then immediately turns on the person who bails her out, without any real cause, that’s highly suspicious to me.
Of course it’s a stupid book. Kids love that kind of thing. It actually demonstrated very good judgment in the context of keeping second grade children engaged. Butts and farts are normal, healthy, and funny.
I think so too. The book gets kids reading and everyone should appreciate that. I fed Captain Underpants books to my godchildren because it was reading. It also makes adults more approachable if the kids can see them laughing about butts and farts. Good for the Assistant Principal; he was engaging kids in learning.
I presume that sales of Andy Griffiths books aren’t that good in Mississippi.
Including local favourite and best seller The Day My Bum Went Psycho
Disclaimer- I haven’t read the book in question.
I do a variation on the color cube prediction trick. I bought the trick in a pack of Fantasma magic tricks at a dollar store. Without spoiling the trick, it involves putting both hands behind your back and doing something quickly. My dexterity is poor. I knew I would need extra time to do that. Then, it hit me! What if I pretended that I had a magic butt that could tell the color of the cube? I could take all the time I needed as long as I made a big show of rubbing the box on my butt.
The kids love it.
I don’t see the problem with reading kids a book that they’ll enjoy and contains nothing more objectionable than the word fart.
ETA
We had a poster who worked in the Shrek costume at Universal Studios. The rules forbade him from speaking while in the costume. He lobbied hard to be able to make burping and farting noises. Management said yes. The kids loved it. He would also pretend to pick his nose and rub any offered autograph books on his butt.
It could have been a lot worse, as far as butt books go. He could have read them some Chuck Tingle.
You haven’t watched the Cartoon Network, have you? It’s full of silly shows that mention farts and butts. But it’s all harmless, and I wouldn’t ban it from the classroom.
At first I misread that as a book by Andy Griffith, and I thought it was the best thing ever. Matlock wrote a children’s book about his butt?!
No, it’s Griffiths. Dangit!
That’s fine. Opinions differ. Like I said, I don’t think it merited firing, but I also don’t think I’d cheer Cartoon Network in the schools. Says the prude who taught his granddaughter to pull his finger.
Watch the second link in the OP. Really, it’s nothing objectionable.
School librarian here. Apparently I wouldn’t last long in Mississippi.
I just read the book. My kids would’ve loved it, and I wouldn’t have minded a bit if someone read it to them at school.
I wonder if the principal had it in for him and was poised to find any reason at all to fire him. It just doesn’t seem like enough of a reason to terminate someone, even in a very conservative area.
I also wonder when the AP will file the wrongful termination lawsuit. Hope he wins.
I can just imagine them turning this book into a musical, using Huey Lewis and the News’ song I Want a New Drug as a basis
Yeah, you’re a bit of an old fogey here. My only complaint might be that second grade is a grade or two old for this silly material, but the subject is fine. (My kids are in second grade and kindergarten and I feel they went through their fart and butt phase about two years ago.) Still, any reading material that engages them and they find fun I consider a win. “Everybody Poops” was a similarly entertaining book, and I can’t imagine finding something like that objectionable, either.
My brothers and I apparently never grew out of this phase, and even now when we’re all well into our 50’s we find this stuff hilarious, much to the embarrassment of my brothers’ daughters.
Oh, and I think it’s a perfectly acceptable book to read a class of second graders. It’s just fun.
When I saw the title I assumed that was a for-the-parents joke. Then I thought about the timelines and realized it was a for-the-grandparents joke.