The release of “Precious”, the Lee Daniels’ directed movie based on the novel PUSH by Sapphire, has reignited dialogue and debate about the inclusion of the title on the list of Pebble Creek recommendations for classroom libraries.

It is difficult to find an English teacher who does not have a strong opinion about the validity and appropriateness of a book like PUSH and other YA titles like it.

The three prevailing arguments I hear most from teachers who have decided PUSH is inappropriate and unworthy are: objections to the profane language, objections to the use of “non-standard” English to relay the story and objections to Sapphire’s merciless honesty regarding sexual abuse.

I have done a fairly decent job of listening objectively to other people’s thoughts about the book and I certainly cannot deny that I have heard some points that have caused me to reconsider my position. However, my response to the above mentioned objections has remained relatively consistent.

The language is raw but real.

The author’s word choice was so raunchy at times it literally made my stomach queasy in a nervous, yet familiar kind of way. I recognize the feeling because it's the one I get when I hear kids use the same language in school hallways. Or when I recall the many notes I have intentionally or accidentally "found", that were written by students and clearly intended for “peer eyes only”.

As I see it, the language isn't much different than the stuff some of our kids write and say everyday. This book confirmed for me something I think most adults have been denying for far too long. We are trying to shield our students from a part of life that a lot of them are already living! Yes...the POSITIVE, much needed lessons of this book are often convoluted by the language but then so are the movies they watch, the songs they listen to, and even the things they find funny.

The dialect is deliberate.

Although the grammar and sentence structure is a little unnerving for most English teachers, it is authentic to the “voice” of the main character. Sapphire has an ear for how people from Precious' environment speak … an environment which perpetuates a set of circumstances (poverty, lack of education/resources, failing schools) that would make the use of Standard English as ridiculous as our obsession with correcting the syntax of a sentence instead of engaging our students in a discussion about what the sentence is saying.

The horror of sexual abuse is just part of the point.

There is a LOT going on in this novel beyond incest. Sapphire addresses ignorance, black self-hate, definitions of beauty, illiteracy, poverty, the cycle of welfare and most importantly the incredible resilience of real people who live real lives just like the one described in this book.

I think the point is for us to be haunted by ALL of these issues not hung up on the one that makes us most uncomfortable.

I have never imagined much less had to deal with MOST of the scenarios Sapphire describes, therefore PUSH was hard to read at times. My sometimes unrealistic world of innocence and hope was violently invaded by the book... but difficult though it was, that’s what GOOD literature is supposed to do, right?

So, before we push PUSH away, consider whether we might REALLY be less concerned about shattering our students’ innocence and more concerned with protecting our own?

I’m just askin’…

Cynthia L. Moore