Many such battles require parents or others to describe what they object to in a book and make presentations before public or school library officials. The proceedings often involve legal counsel, and one school district in Maryland estimated that a challenge could cost $2,500.
Some critics, however, say these public debates are the very essence of democracy, because they give parents a voice in how their children are educated.
"It's the librarian's job to be a censor, to choose what books do or don't go into a library, and we live in a time when American libraries are overloaded with homosexual themes," said Phil Burress, president of the Ohio-based Citizens for Community Values, a nonprofit advocacy group that monitors such issues nationwide.
Although he was not familiar with Freeman's book, Burress said the notion that an author would put gay fathers in a children's book proved that a "gay agenda" was creeping into American children's literature. "For many people, this is not something you simply put 'in the background,' " he said. "They don't think librarians should be promoting this view of the world, saying it's normal for our society."
But what might seem alarming and provocative to some readers is for others an honest, nonjudgmental portrait of modern American life. The sole reference to gay parents in "The Trouble With Babies" comes on Page 52, when Xavier, a neighborhood boy nicknamed Dr. X, tells Holly that he has two dads and no mom:
"Oh, now I get it," [Holly] said. "You mean they're gay."
Dr. X nodded. "Exactly."
Mom and William have friends who are gay. Some of them have kids. But this was the first time I had met a kid with two dads and no moms.
"Okay," I shrugged.
"You don't think that's weird?" Dr. X asked me.
"It's not usual," I said. "But it's not weird."
"The Trouble With Cats" featured the same main character and has sold nearly 10,000 copies in hardcover and paperback, mostly to school and public libraries. Based on those modest but encouraging sales, several book clubs for young readers included the title in their offerings, and this in turn convinced Random House Inc. to bring out a paperback edition, Cash said.
Yet "The Trouble With Babies" has sold only 2,292 copies since it was published last year. Holiday House officials told Freeman that, based on its performance, they may not keep the $15.95 hardback edition in print.
