Raining on the 'Rainbow Party': booksellers balk at handling a teen novel about oral sex.(children's books)

Two high school sophomores plan a party. It's called a rainbow party because the party theme is oral sex, in which the girls each wear a different colored lipstick and the boys, by evening's end, sport a chromatic spectrum. In Paul Ruditis's YA novel Rainbow Party, the invited teens have major reservations, the event never happens and news of an STD breakout sends shockwaves through the school.

While Simon Pulse, the publisher, is positioning the June title as a cautionary tale about a troubling trend in teendom, booksellers are not buying it. "The chains are not taking the book," said Tracy van Straaten, executive director of publicity, for S&S Children's Publishing. B&N's Carolyn Brown confirmed that the book could only be ordered online or special ordered, while …