February 2022

February is a busy month - we're celebrating Black History Month, Valentine's Day, and Freedom to Read Week. Take a look at some titles we recommend this month.

Despite having strong traditions of free expression, Canada also has a long-standing tradition of censorship. Historically, books and magazines have often been quietly removed from libraries and classrooms.

Freedom to Read Week was founded in 1984 to challenge the covert nature of censorship and to create a broader awareness of these ongoing challenges to Canadian writing. This week we celebrate the right for Canadians to actively defend their right to publish, read and write freely.

Betty: The Helen Betty Osborne Story

by David Alexander Robertson

In 2018, Robertson learned that Alberta Education had put Betty on a list of books that were “not recommended” for use in classrooms.

The graphic novel, which is intended for students in Grades 9–12, tells the true story of a Cree woman who was kidnapped and murdered in The Pas, MB, in 1971.

A ministry spokesperson said that “graphic representation of sensitive content” must be taught in “age-appropriate ways.” However, Robertson said putting books on a list that discourages teachers from using them is censorship.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

In 2007, Ontario’s Halton Catholic District School Board voted to ban Philip Pullman’s trilogy of fantasy novels—The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass—from its schools.

The board objected to “atheist” themes in the British author’s books.

When Everything Feels Like the Movies

by Raziel Reid

The winner of the 2014 Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature was decried as a “values-void novel” by a National Post columnist.

Soon after, a group of concerned parents, YA authors, teachers and others started an online petition to revoke the award, citing the book’s “offensive” and “inappropriate” content.