Little Evie conquers censorship
The Toronto Star reports today that a 10-year-old Burlington girl named Evie Freedman has won The Writers’ Union of Canada’s Freedom to Read Award.
Evie is being honoured for her spirited defence last year of the controversial book Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak by Simcoe author Deborah Ellis.
The book was pulled out of circulation in some Ontario school libraries, including those in the Toronto and York public boards, after the Canadian Jewish Congress complained it was an inappropriate selection for the Ontario Library Association’s Silver Birch reading awards program.
This week, Evie could hardly contain her delight at receiving the award, to be presented at a small party at her parents’ home tomorrow, a timely honour during Freedom to Read Week. “I forgot about Three Wishes for awhile, but I knew it was too important not to come up again,” she said Monday.
“I still have very strong opinions about kids’ rights.”
As far as Quillblog could make out, the award was given to little Evie largely for being “widely quoted in the press objecting to the censorship of Three Wishes.” Later in the Star piece, however, there is an incidental reference to Evie’s father, Steve Jordan, a Canadian music industry insider and executive director of the Polaris Music Prize, and to her stepfather, novelist Lawrence Hill, who was a major player in the fight to reinstate Three Wishes to school libraries. Could it be that the little moppet’s family connections might have had something to do with her award win?
In any case, can anyone honestly say that Evie’s efforts on the part of free speech were as noteworthy as those of the 2003 winner, Little Sister’s Bookstore? Maybe we’re just curmudgeons, but we at Quillblog believe that giving major awards to children is misguided at best, and at worst potentially an insult to those who really deserve them.
For the record, this Quillblog contributor disagrees a whole lot with that last sentence…
It’s a little broad. In theory a child could do something worthy of winning this award. Though that doesn’t appear to have been the case here. Whatever happened to that book anyway? Did it get put back into circulation?
This is Evie’s father.
I’m not writing to dispute your paranoid premise that my position had anything to do with Evie getting this award, although I only found out about it after she was informed that she won it.
I’m not here to dispute your extremely condescending notion that “giving major awards to children” is “misguided” or “insulting”, although you offer no alternatives as to who does deserve them.
I am writing on the point of fact that Evie, at over 5 feet, is no moppet. Although endearingly sweet, she is not small. In fact, she is one of the tallest people in her class.
As found on the Freedom to Read web site (Banned and Challenged Book List)
Ellis, Deborah. Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak.
2006—In Ontario, the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) urged public school boards to deny access to this children’s non-fiction book about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to students in the elementary grades.
Cause of objection—The CJC said that Ellis had provided a flawed historical introduction to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The CJC also said that some children in the book portrayed Israeli soldiers as brutal, expressed ethnic hatred and glorified suicide bombing. The effect on young student readers, the CJC said, was “toxic.”
Update—Although the Ontario Library Association (OLA) had recommended Three Wishes to schools as part of its acclaimed Silver Birch reading program, and although schoolchildren were not required to read the book, at least five school boards in Ontario set restrictions on the text:
a) The District School Board of Niagara encouraged librarians to steer students in Grades 4–6 away from Three Wishes and to tell parents that their children had asked for the book.
b) The Greater Essex County District School Board restricted access to the book to students in Grade 7 or higher.
c) The Toronto District School Board restricted access to the book to students in Grade 7 or higher and withdrew the book from school library shelves.
d) The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board refused to stock the book and refused to provide copies to students who asked for it.
e) In 2005, before the CJC made its views about Three Wishes public, the York Regional District School Board also withdrew the book from the Silver Birch program.
Protests by the OLA, The Writers’ Union of Canada, PEN Canada and the Association of Canadian Publishers failed to persuade the school boards to repeal their restrictions.
As part of its involvement in Freedom to Read Week, the Writers’ Union of Canada has presented its Freedom to Read award to an individual who, over the preceding year, has been instrumental in helping preserve Canadians’ freedom to read. Previous recipients have included Quebec writer Charles Montpetit, Toronto civil rights lawyer Clayton Ruby, former NDP MP Wendy Lill, and Janine Fuller, owner of Little Sisters Bookstore who has spent many years and much money challenging Canada Customs over its practice of detaining books at the border. One of the past year’s most prominent book challenges was over Deborah Ellis’ Three Wishes. Although many prominent individuals and organizations stepped forward to defend the book, young Evie Freedman showed considerable courage and eloquence not only at a large press conference but with many media interviews as well. She was selected not only for these contributions, but because she represented the face of those who are most affected by books challenges such as these, namely the students themselves. I would invite any one interested in this debate to visit the Writers’ Union website at writersunion.ca to read the press release, and to visit freedomtoread.ca the website for Freedom to Read Week itself. Ron Brown, Chair, Writers’ Union of Canada.
Loser.