Do you ever think about the books that you see on the shelves at your local library? Your school library? What about the books that aren’t on the library shelves?
We’re heading into the final days of Freedom to Read Week (February 21-27, 2010) and at NOW HEAR THIS! we’re asking ourselves about censorship. As the Freedom to Read Week organizers say:
“Freedom to read can never be taken for granted. Even in Canada, a free country by world standards, books and magazines are banned at the border. Books are removed from the shelves in Canadian libraries, schools and bookstores every day. Free speech on the Internet is under attack. Few of these stories make headlines, but they affect the right of Canadians to decide for themselves what they choose to read.”
To celebrate Freedom to Read Week we’re bringing you a short list of books that have been recently challenged on our home turf of Toronto:
Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale.
2008—In Toronto, a parent formally complained about the use of this dystopian novel in a Grade 12 English class at Lawrence Park Collegiate.
Cause of objection—The parent said that the novel’s “profane language,” anti-Christian overtones, “violence” and “sexual degradation” probably violated the district school policies that require students to show respect and tolerance to one another.
Update—In 2009, a review panel of the Toronto District School Board recommended that schools keep the novel in the curriculum in Grades 11 and 12.
Meyer, Richard. Outlaw Representation: Censorship and Homosexuality in Twentieth-Century American Art.
2002—The author was due to appear at Glad Day Bookshop in Toronto when he discovered that his publisher, Oxford University Press, had decided not to sell the U.S. edition in Canada.
Cause of objection—The book includes a photograph of a nude boy by Robert Mapplethorpe, and the publisher feared the photograph might trigger criminal charges under Canada’s child pornography law. “The picture at issue, a portrait entitled ‘Jesse McBride,’ is not pornographic in any way,” said Meyer, “and part of what I discuss in the book is how the patently false charge of child pornography has been used by conservative politicians and the Christian Right as a justification to suppress Mapplethorpe’s work. Using these same arguments, Oxford has, in effect, censored a scholarly book on censorship.”
Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. Outrageously Alice.
2000—A patron of the Toronto Public Library complained about this novel for young readers about a 13-year-old girl growing up and learning about sex.
Cause of objection—Saying it was inappropriate for children, the library patron said that the book should be shelved in a “mature section” or children should be denied access to the book.
Update—The library retained the book in the children’s collection.
Patterson, Richard North. Silent Witness.
2003—A patron of the Toronto Public Library challenged this adult crime novel.
Cause of objection—The patron disliked the descriptions of rape and murder.
Update—The library retained copies in its collection.
Vigna, Judith. Black Like Kyra, White Like Me.
2000—A patron of the Toronto Public Library complained about this children’s picture book about a black family moving into an all-white neighbourhood and encountering racial prejudice.
Cause of objection—The complainant said the story “reinforces negative stereotypes about blacks and positive types about whites.”
Update—The book was retained in the library’s collection.
For more information about Freedom to Read Week or to prepare for next year check out freedomtoread.ca!
