35 Challenged Publications

Canadians and others have long tried to remove books and magazines that they deem offensive, or inappropriate for certain audiences, from Shutterstock public libraries and schools. Sometimes they have succeeded and sometimes they have failed. icons We present 35 examples from recent decades. by Franklin Carter design and layout boydgordon.design Canadian Poetry: The Apprenticeship Go Ask Alice Such Is My Beloved La première fois. 2 vols. This One Summer The Modern Era of Duddy Kravitz Anonymous Morley Callaghan Charles Montpetit, editor Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki John Newlove, editor Mordecai Richler In 1978, school boards in Richmond and (Cover: McClelland & Stewart, 2007) Between 1992 and 2002, secondary (Cover: Groundwood Books, 2014) In 1987, Parents for a Quality (Cover: Penguin Group Canada, 1995) Langley, B.C., removed this book from In 1972, two Christian ministers tried schools in Quebec invited Montpetit to In 2016, after receiving a parent’s their high schools. Go Ask Alice, which talk to students about this award-winning Curriculum objected to the use of this In 1990, parents demanded the removal to get this novel removed from a high complaint, school officials removed this reads like a diary, describes a teenage non-fiction anthology for teenagers. The anthology—and five other works of of this novel from high school reading school in Huntsville, Ont. The novel, Canadian graphic novel from a library girl’s experiences with narcotics and sex. government body that funds such visits contemporary Canadian fiction—in high lists in Essex County, Ont. They objected which is set in the 1930s, tells the story of in Minnesota. The book, which won a In Richmond, students sent a petition also sent each school copies of the books schools in Victoria County, Ont. The to “vulgarity, sexual expressions and a young Roman Catholic priest who tries Governor General’s Literary Award for to the school board to protest the ban, to distribute to students. But on five parents objected to “anti-establishment sexual innuendoes” in the text. to persuade two women to abandon their illustration in children’s literature in and the Richmond Teacher-Librarians’ occasions, school authorities belatedly attitudes” in the poems, but the school The novel, which is set chiefly in lives as prostitutes. The ministers objected 2014, tells the story of two girls beginning Association supported them. In Langley, realized that the authors in La première board voted to keep Canadian Poetry on Montreal in the 1940s, tells the story of a to the novel’s depiction of prostitution adolescence. The school superintendent, a committee of school trustees, librarians fois had written about sex or sexual its reading list. young Jewish man who strives for material and the use of “strong language.” librarian and principal thought that the and parents recommended keeping copies experiences. The schools refused to success. Noted Canadian authors— topics in the book were “inappropriate in school counsellors’ offices. But these distribute the books and asked Montpetit including June Callwood and Al Purdy— for inclusion in the library” and that the A Jest of God efforts failed; both bans stayed in effect. to discuss other works. Margaret Laurence defended the book. But the Essex County language was “inappropriate.” (Cover: McClelland & Stewart, 2008) Board of Education advised teachers and principals to avoid using novels in class The Book of Negroes Lives of Girls and Women In 1978, a school trustee in Etobicoke, that “might provoke undue controversy.” Lawrence Hill Alice Munro Ont., tried but failed to remove this novel (Cover: Ailantus, 2011) (Cover: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1971) from high school English classes. A Jest of God—which won the Governor General’s In 2011, Canadian author Hill received In 1976, a high school principal in Literary Award for fiction in 1966— an email from a Roy Groenberg in the Peterborough, Ont., removed this novel depicts the unhappy life of an elementary Netherlands who said that he and others from the Grade 13 reading list. The novel schoolteacher in small-town Manitoba. planned to publicly burn Hill’s novel depicts the life of a girl growing up in The trustee objected to the portrayal of because they objected to the N-word small-town Ontario in the 1940s. The teachers “who had sexual intercourse in the title. The novel, which won the principal “‘questioned its suitability’ time and time again, out of wedlock.” Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 2008, because of the explicit language and He said the novel would diminish the tells a story about slavery in the 18th descriptions of sex scenes,” reported Jeff authority of teachers in students’ eyes. century. On June 22, 2011, Groenberg and Sallot in The Globe and Mail. his colleagues burned photocopies of the Dutch edition’s cover in Amsterdam. Hold Fast Kevin Major The Impressions Series In 1988–89, an individual tried to get Jack Booth and David Booth, this young-adult novel removed from editors a high school library in Estevan, Sask. Hold Fast tells the tale of a troubled lad In 1991, 30 angry parents entered Rosary from small-town Newfoundland who Catholic School in Manning, Alta., challenges adult authority at almost detained the principal and demanded every turn. School authorities in Estevan the removal of Impressions. The parents considered the complaint but kept the claimed the fairy tales and poems in book in the library. this language arts series for youngsters conveyed morbid, Satanic themes. Later, the school board ordered the removal of the books. The Last of the Golden Girls Of Mice and Men The Young in One Le grand cahier Marie Tempête: To Kill a Mockingbird Susan Swan John Steinbeck Another’s Arms Agota Kristof Le secret d’Emilie Harper Lee (Cover: Lester & Orpen Dennys Publishers, 1989) In 1994, in Alberta’s legislature, Victor Jane Rule In the spring of 2003, the father of a Patrick Cothias and Pierre Wachs (Cover: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2002) In 1989, two women in Alberta heard Doerksen called for the removal of (Cover: Doubleday, 1977) 16-year-old girl in St-Jérôme, Que., (Cover: Editions Glénat, 1994) In 1991, an African-Canadian profane, irreligious books from Alberta’s complained to school authorities and the author read a passage from this novel, In 1990, Canadian customs officers In 2000, feminists in Hull, Que., began organization called PRUDE (Pride schools. He cited Steinbeck’s novel, the news media about this novel. Le which describes the sexual escapades of seized this novel en route from the United campaigning to remove adult comic of Race, Unity and Dignity through which describes the hardships of migrant grand cahier, which won literary awards three female friends in Ontario’s cottage States to Glad Day Bookshop in Toronto. books and graphic novels that depict Education) in Saint John, N.B., sought workers in California during the Great in Europe, describes the effects of war country, on CBC Radio. Thinking the The officers were searching for sexually violence against women from the city’s to remove Lee’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Depression, as an example. Doerksen on two boys who live in an unnamed passage obscene, the two listeners obscene literature, but later released the libraries. In 2001, they persuaded the novel and Mark Twain’s The Adventures had a petition that bore the signatures country. The parent described the complained to the police in Edmonton. novel to the importer. The novel, which city council to ban “all visual documents of Huckleberry Finn from school reading of 811 Albertans who wanted schools to novel as “very violent and grossly A few months later, after having listened depicts gay characters positively, is legally … that trivialize and/or condone acts of lists. PRUDE disliked the portrayal of withdraw books that “demean or profane pornographic.” The school quietly to the tape, a detective dismissed the published and sold in Canada. sexual aggression or sexual violence” racial minorities in both novels. the name of God and Jesus Christ.” dropped the book from its reading list at complaint. from public libraries. Librarians the beginning of the 2003–04 school year. reluctantly restricted access to 180 books. Underground to Canada Among them was Marie Tempête: Le Barbara Smucker Roger Sudden secret d’Emilie, a graphic novel set in (Cover: Penguin Books, 2003) Thomas H. Raddall eighteenth-century France. In 2002, a public outcry in Quebec In 2002, African-Canadians lobbied In 2017, two people challenged this prompted politicians to repeal the ban, the Tri-County District School Board historical novel, first published in 1944, and the books returned to the open in Nova Scotia to remove Underground in a post-secondary school library in library shelves. to Canada, John Ball’s In the Heat of Nova Scotia. They also challenged the Night and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Raddall’s other novels and the inclusion Mockingbird from classrooms. The of the author’s papers in an archive. complainants objected to the depictions The challengers said the portrayals of of black people and the use of the N-word Indigenous people were racist and wanted in these anti-racist novels. The school to remove these works from all school board rejected their request. libraries in Nova Scotia. While talking with the complainants, library staff acknowledged the “unfortunate portrayals” of Indigenous people but noted the historical value Asha’s Mums of Raddall’s work and the value of Rosamund Elwin intellectual freedom. The library retained Maxine’s Tree and Michele Paulse all the novels and the author’s related papers in the archive. Diane Léger (Cover: Women’s Press, 1990) (Cover: Orca Book Publishers, 1990) In 1997, school trustees in Surrey, B.C., In 1992, an official of the woodworkers’ Barometer Rising banned the use in the elementary grades Hugh MacLennan trade union in B.C.

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