Freedom to Read

1990—Winner of the 1988 Young Adult Fiction Award from the Canadian Library Association and an American Library Association Notable Book. The author’s visit to a public school in Orleans (ON) was cancelled during Canadian Children’s Book Week.

Objection—The words “hell” and “bastard” made the book unsuitable for 10-to-13-yearolds.

1988: The Race Relations Committee of the Toronto Board of Education recommended that the book be withdrawn from curriculum use in all Toronto high schools. The novel was seen to contain racial slurs.

Update: The board rejected the committee’s recommendation but circulated to all its schools the reasons for the parents’ objections that had led to the committee’s study of the book and asked its Committee on Bias in the Curriculum to suggest ways the book could be taught with sensitivity.

2002—Black parents and teachers in Yarmouth, Digby, and Shelburne (NS) objected to this novel, Barbara Smucker’s Underground to Canada, and John Ball’s In the Heat of the Night. The director of education of the Tri-County school board ordered the withdrawal of the three books pending a ruling by the board, but his order was rescinded at a board meeting and the books were restored. In 1993, a school principal in Hamilton (ON) removed the novel from the core reading list for Grade 10 after a complaint from a parent. In 1991, a black community group called PRUDE (Pride of Race, Unity and Dignity through Education) asked Saint John (NB) School District 20 to withdraw this book and Huckleberry Finn from reading lists.

Objection—The novel, which contains the word “nigger,” might cause black students to be mocked because of racial stereotyping.

1998—A parent in Simcoe County (ON) complained about the presence of this book and Robert Cormier’s novel We All Fall Down in two elementary school libraries. The parent said that teaching this book would be more appropriate at the Grade 11 level. The book is aimed at children aged 10 to 13.

Update—The board considered the objection but decided to leave The Giver in school libraries for Grade 6, 7, and 8 students.

1996—A parent demanded the removal of this novel from the optional reading list for senior English students at a Milton (ON) high school. His 16-page flyer, distributed throughout the community, included excerpts from the book and the text of an eight-page letter to the superintendent of educational services for the Halton Board of Education. The book, which deals with the subject of teenaged gangs, was said to contain obscene and profane language as well as graphic scenes of sex and violence.

Update—In April 1997, the school board agreed that Foxfire should be retained as a curriculum option for Milton and other high schools but designated the book for small group instruction or independent study. Nothing further was heard from Parents Against Corrupt Teachers (PACT), the organization that sparked the controversy.

1991—With Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, this classic novel was targeted by a parent group for removal from recommended reading lists in the Saint John (NB) School District 20.

Objection—Racism in characterization and language.