I have my own perspective based on the fact that one of my sons is adopted and black, my other born to us an white. They're both all grown up now, but when they were kids in the 60's I decided to read Twain to them at bedtime. The "N" word ruined it, and I couldn't continue reading either Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer to my own children. There's an operational definition of "appropriate"! Hank Chapin U. of Hawaii-West Oahu