29 books that were challenged in Canada
Freedom to Read Week takes place Feb. 19-25, 2023
Freedom to Read Week is a week-long Canadian event that celebrates freedom to read and "encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom."
The 2023 edition is taking place Feb. 19-25, 2023
Here are 29 books you may be surprised to learn have battled attempts at censorship in Canada. The information was provided by Freedom to Read Week and the Book and Periodical Council.
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Released in 1985, The Handmaid's Tale was Atwood's breakthrough book on an international scale. The modern classic tells the story of a handmaid known as Offred who is trapped in a society where her only purpose is to conceive and bear the child of a powerful man.
The Handmaid's Tale won Atwood her second Governor General's Literary Award and scored her first nomination for the Booker Prize. It has since undergone several adaptations, for film, stage, ballet, opera and most recently TV as well as a graphic novel.
Reason for censorship: Violence and offensive language
Atwood is one of Canada's best known and most prolific writers. She has written more than 40 books in nearly all literary forms including short stories, nonfiction, children's books and the stage.
LISTEN | Margaret Atwood talks about The Handmaid's Tale in 1985:
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Bridge to Terabithia is the story of two lonely children who become fast friends and spend their days after school creating their own magical kingdom in the forest.
Reason for censorship: Offensive language
Paterson is an award-winning children's writer. She has received the Newbery Medal, the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
The Harry Potter series is an iconic, bestselling YA series about a boy wizard who is admitted to a magic boarding school and his battle against the dark forces that linger in this world. The stories were later adapted into a popular film series. There are seven books in the series.
Reason for censorship: Satanism and witchcraft
British author J.K. Rowling was a single mother who relied on welfare before coming up with the idea of Harry Potter on a delayed train trip. Under the pen name Robert Galbraith, she has since authored The Casual Vacancy, a novel for adults, and a series of mystery novels.
LISTEN | Seeing Harry Potter as a sacred text:
The Holy Bible
The Bible is collection of sacred texts regarded by Christians as a true record of the relationship between humans and God. It contains the New and the Old Testaments.
Reason for censorship: Offensive language
WATCH | What it's like reading the Bible from start to finish:
Star Wars: A New Hope by George Lucas
Originally entitled Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, this book is a novelization of George Lucas' first Star Wars film in the original trilogy, released in 1977. The story centres on the life of Luke Skywalker. The film series is one of the most successful in history, with nine films.
Reason for censorship: Unknown reasons
LISTEN | How Star Wars resonates with Indigenous audiences:
The Wars by Timothy Findley
In The Wars, Robert Ross, a 19-year-old Canadian, decides to enlist in the First World War after the death of his sister to escape his grief and downtrodden life in the Victorian era. The story follows his submersion in the realities of the war. The Wars won the Governor General's Literary Award for English-language fiction in 1981.
Reason for censorship: Sex and violence
Findley is also the author of Not Wanted on the Voyage, Headhunter and The Piano Man's Daughter. He died in 2002.
WATCH | An archival interview with Timothy Findley:
Chicken Soup for the Unsinkable Soul by Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen
Chicken Soup for the Soul is a series of inspirational stories from people who have overcome obstacles and dealt with life's challenges.
Reason for censorship: Unknown reasons
Essex County by Jeff Lemire
Essex County is a graphic novel that explores what it means to live, work, dream and even die in a Southwestern Ontario rural community. The population of this fictional landscape is represented from childhood to old age through its characters Lester, Lou and Anne. The illustrated black and white panels show the characters' stark external world and the vividness of their interior lives. Essex County was on Canada Reads 2011, when it was defended by Sara Quin.
Reason for censorship: Offensive language
Jeff Lemire is a New York Times bestselling graphic novelist whose work includes Roughneck, Essex County, The Underwater Welder, Royal City and Gord Downie's Secret Path. The Toronto comic creator has also worked on Justice League and Green Arrow for DC Comics and Hawkeye for Marvel.
LISTEN | Jeff Lemire takes the Proust Questionnaire:
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
In A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess' depiction of the future, criminals wreak havoc when the sun sets. The book follows Alex, a sadistic 15-year-old boy and member of a street gang, who begins to commit heinous crimes against people. State authorities attempt to reform him with little success. A Clockwork Orange was first published in 1962. It was named one of Time's 10 best English-language novels since 1923. In 1971, it was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film by Stanley Kubrick.
Reason for censorship: Unknown reasons
Burgess was an English writer and composer. A Clockwork Orange was his most notable work. He also produced more than 250 pieces of music. He died in 1993.
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
Set in an isolated community called San Piedro Island, Snow Falling on Cedars follows the death of a local fisherman in 1954, and a Japanese American named Kabuo Miyamoto charged with the murder. In the trial, it becomes clear that there is more at stake than deciding Miyamoto's fate. The community is faced with the memory of its Japanese population being exiled as their neighbours watched. Snow Falling on Cedars won the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award and was made into an Oscar-nominated film in 1995.
Reason for censorship: Sex
David Guterson is an American novelist. Snow Falling on Cedars is his best-known work. He is also the author of East of the Mountains, Our Lady of the Forest,The Other and Ed King.
His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman is a three-part series of fantasy books, including The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, that follows two children as they wander through parallel universes. The series has won several awards and has been adapted into a play, radio drama and a feature film.
Reason for censorship: Sex, violence, offensive language, satanism and witchcraft
Pullman is a bestselling British novelist. His Dark Materials is his most notable work. He was knighted in 2019 and the Times named him one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.
The Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine
Goosebumps is a horror fiction series for kids, in which the stories follow children who find themselves in scary situations. Sixty-two Goosebumps books were published between 1992 and 1997. The series also inspired a TV series and a feature film.
Reason for censorship: Violence
R.L. Stine is a popular American horror writer for kids and young adults. He also wrote the Fear Street series for teen readers and several stand-alone titles.
LISTEN | R.L. Stine reflects on his legacy of writing scary stories for kids:
On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder
In the fourth book of the Little House series, On the Banks of Plum Creek, Laura Ingalls and her family leave their little house on the prairie and settle in a little house made of sod beside the banks of beautiful Plum Creek. Their father builds a sturdier house with real glass windows and a hinged door. A grasshopper plague and unforgiving blizzard cause trouble.
The Little House series was published between 1932-1943. There are eight books in the series. The series inspired the popular TV show Little House on the Prairie.
Reason for censorship: Offensive language
Wilder was an American writer whose own childhood in a pioneer family inspired her work. She died in 1957.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a literary classic that tells the story of 13-year-old Huckleberry Finn, who in an attempt to escape from his abusive father, fakes his own death. He meets a runaway slave and they travel down the Mississippi River together on a raft. This book is still considered one of the great American novels of all-time and compulsory for fiction readers. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was first published in 1884 and has inspired several film and TV adaptations.
Reason for censorship: Offensive language
Mark Twain was the pseudonym for Samuel Clemons, an American writer and humorist. His other notable book was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which is a prequel to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He died in 1910.
WATCH | Looking at Mark Twain's characters:
The Best of Drawn & Quarterly edited by Chris Oliveros
Drawn & Quarterly is a independent comics publisher based in Montreal, which originally began as a magazine. The Best of Drawn & Quarterly is a collection of the best entries from Drawn & Quarterly's first two years in print. The magazine later flourished into a comic and cartoon publishing company.
Reason for censorship: Sex and violence
Drawn & Quarterly currently publishes several well-known artists, including Michael DeForge, Lynda Barry, Chris Ware, Chester Brown, Julie Doucet, Seth and Adrian Tomine.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Flowers for Algernon, originally written as a novella and published by The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, centres on a man with an intellectual disability who goes through an experimental operation to artificially increase his intelligence. In the process, his IQ shoots from 68 to 185, and the effects are life-changing. The novel was published in 1966 and won the Nebula Award for best novel that year. Flowers for Algernon has been adapted several times, as a radio drama, rock opera and for film and TV.
Reason for censorship: Offensive language
Daniel Keyes was an American science fiction writer, Flowers for Algernon was his most notable work. Over the course of his career, he won a Hugo Award, a Nebula Award and was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2000. He died in 2014.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird is a gripping, coming-of-age story set in the South, where prejudice and inequality are prevalent. It centres on the perspective of a young girl whose father, a lawyer, risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime. To Kill a Mockingbird has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide and remains a fixture on school reading lists. The 1962 screen adaptation won three Oscars, including a best actor trophy for Gregory Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch.
Reason for censorship: Offensive language
Harper Lee won the Pulitzer Prize for the book after it was published in 1960. It remained the only book of her career until she published a sequel called Go Set a Watchman in 2015. Lee died in 2016 at the age of 89.
LISTEN | Harper Lee was an author full of secrets:
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
In The Catcher in the Rye, dejected 16-year-old Holden Caulfield leaves his preparatory school in Pennsylvania and travels to New York for three days, where he has encounters with colourful characters and experiences that get him into trouble. The Catcher in the Rye was originally published as a serial and was released as a book in 1951. It was named by Time as one of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923.
Reason for censorship: Offensive language
J.D. Salinger was a reclusive American author. He published several notable works, including Nine Stories, Franny and Zooey and The Catcher in the Rye, but didn't publish anything after 1965. He died in 2010.
LISTEN | Why do so many people love Holden Caufield?
Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro
Lives of Girls and Women chronicles a young girl's experience growing up in rural Ontario in the 1940s. The protagonist, Del Jordan, grapples with the crises that accompany the journey into womanhood. Lives of Girls and Women was first published in 1971. It was adapted for TV in 1994.
Reason for censorship: Offensive language
Munro has published 16 collections over her illustrious career. Her work has won the Nobel Prize for literature, two Scotiabank Giller Prizes, three Governor General's Literary Awards and the Man Booker International Prize. Her other books include Dance of the Happy Shades, The Love of a Good Woman and Runaway.
LISTEN | A rare conversation with Alice Munro:
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Giver, set in a dystopian society, tells the story of 12-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly idyllic, albeit dull, uniform world — until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory. He begins to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. The Giver was published in 1993. It won the Newbery Medal and was adapted into a film in 2014.
Reason for censorship: Offensive language
Lois Lowry is an American writer and a two-time Newbery Medal winner for Number of the Stars (1990) and The Giver (1994). She is also the author of the memoir Looking Back: A Book of Memories.
Princess on the Brink by Meg Cabot
Princess on the Brink is the eighth book in the Princess Diaries series. The story follows Mia, now a junior in high school, as she faces all the challenges that come with being an upperclassman, including her boyfriend's possible move to Japan. The Princess Diaries is a popular YA series that was adapted into a film franchise in 2001.
Reason for censorship: Sex and offensive language
Meg Cabot is an American author who has published more than 50 books for adults and young adults. She is best known for the Princess Diaries series.
Foxfire by Joyce Carol Oates
Foxfire is set in a blue-collar town in 1950s upstate New York, this novel follows five high school girls who form a gang dedicated to pride, power and vengeance against a world riddled with male oppressors that seems made to denigrate and destroy them. Foxfire was published in 1993, and was adapted into a film in 1996.
Reason for censorship: Sex, violence and offensive language
Joyce Carol Oates is an American novelist, literary critic, professor and playwright. Her other books include them, Black Water, What I Lived For and The Wheel of Love.
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler
In The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Duddy, a brash third-generation member of a Jewish immigrant family in Montreal, torments his teachers at the Jewish academy. He takes on four jobs in an effort to "be somebody" and eventually develop the lakeshore property of his dreams. In the process, he learns a few lessons about living. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz was published in 1959 and was adapted into a film in 1974.
Reason for censorship: Unknown reasons
Mordecai Richler was one of Montreal's most iconic novelists. His legacy includes the novels Barney's Version, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Cocksure and St. Urbain's Horseman. He won the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction twice, once in 1968 and again in 1971, and received the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 1997. He died in 2001.
WATCH | A look at the life of Mordecai Richler:
The Diviners by Margaret Laurence
The Diviners, part of a five-book fiction series, tells the story of Morag Gunn, a writer and single mother who grew up on the Canadian prairies and has no intention of leaving, because she believes the experience makes her tough. She struggles to understand the loneliness her teenage daughter feels. The Diviners was published in 1974 and won the Governor General's Literary Award for English-language fiction.
Reason for censorship: Sex and offensive language
Margaret Laurence penned several classic Canadian novels throughout her celebrated career. She twice won the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction — first in 1966 for A Jest of God and again in 1974 for The Diviners. She died in 1987.
WATCH | Looking back on Margaret Laurence's Manawaka series:
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
In Lord of the Flies, a group of young boys are marooned on a deserted island. Once order is gone and resources become scarce, divisions form and chaos ensues among them as they each attempt to survive in the wild. Lord of the Flies was published in 1954, and is widely considered to be one of the best and most influential English- language novels.
Reason for censorship: Offensive language
William Golding was a British novelist and playwright. Lord of the Flies was his first book. He would go on to publish 11 more, including the Booker Prize-winning Rites of Passage. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1983. He died in 1993.
Hold Fast by Kevin Major
Hold Fast is about two brothers, Michael and Brent, who are uprooted from their tight-knit Newfoundland community and eventually separated when their parents are killed in a car accident. Hold Fast was published in 1978 and won the Governor General's Literary Award for English-language children's literature.
Reason for censorship: Unknown reasons
Kevin Major is a Canadian author who has written books for young people in addition to books for adults, poetry and plays. In 1992, he won the Vicky Metcalf Award, which is given to a children's book writer for their body of work.
Underground to Canada by Barbara Smucker
Underground to Canada is a historical novel for young readers that tells the story of escaped slaves from the United States who travelled into Canada through the Underground Railroad. It was published in 1977.
Reason for censorship: Offensive language
Barbara Smucker was an American children's book writer who lived in Canada. In 1988, she won the Vicky Metcalf Award, which is given to a children's book writer for their body of work. She died in 2003.
Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar
Set in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Gossip Girl is a series of novels that give an inside look into the glamorous, yet tumultuous, lives of a group of teenage socialites and all the drama that ensues within their circle. The book series inspired a popular TV show of the same name that ran from 2007-2012.
Reason for censorship: Unknown reasons
Cecily von Ziegesar is an American author best known for Gossip Girl. She is also the author of the It Girl book series, a spin-off of Gossip Girl.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men is a novella that tells the story of two migrant ranch workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, who travel through California during the Great Depression in search of new job opportunities. Of Mice and Men was published in 1937.
Reason for censorship: Offensive language and religious issues
John Steinbeck was an American author. His other notable books include East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath, which won the Pulitzer Prize. In 1962, he won the Nobel Prize for literature. He died in 1968.
