David Guterson’s immensely popular 1995 novel Snow Falling on Cedars has been taken off high school library shelves in Ontario’s Peel region for its “explicit sexual content,” according to an article in today’s Toronto Star. The book has apparently not been banned outright by Peel’s Catholic board, it has just been removed until its appropriateness can be reviewed.

Snow Falling on Cedars was part of a Grade 11 English course at Father Michael Goetz Secondary School in Mississauga when a parent complained about it just prior to Christmas, said Bruce Campbell, spokesperson for the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board.

The board committee has not yet been struck, but the review could be complete in two weeks, Campbell said. “It’s definitely not a fait accompli,” he said of the process.

Not surprisingly, the move has drawn a lot of criticism from freedom of expression watchdogs. One of the more notable comments in The Star piece is from Shari Graydon, the author of two children’s books on media literacy:

“Removing thoughtful fiction from the school library is like taking mashed potatoes out of the cafeteria when the problem is french fries at McDonald’s,” said Graydon.

The irony here, of course, is that likening Snow Falling on Cedars to mashed potatoes is all too apt. Yeah, the tale of interracial romance and murder in 1950s America was a big success, but it was also a cliched, groan-inducing, made-for-Oprah bore, and the idea that anything in it could possibly offend or scar anyone is totally absurd. Kids should be free to go ahead and read it if they want, but parents should make sure that they read some more worthwhile titles, too. Like Valley of the Dolls, say…

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