PEN
CANADA URGES RECONSIDERATION OF DECISION BY TORONTO DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD
REGARDING THREE WISHES: PALESTINIAN AND ISRAELI CHILDREN SPEAK
Toronto,
March 16, 2006 – PEN
Canada is deeply dismayed by the Toronto District School Board's decision
to restrict access for younger children to Deborah Ellis’s award-wining
book, Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak.
According
to The Toronto Star, the Board, in reaction to a
protest by the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), has decided to remove the
book from school libraries serving children below grade seven. “This
action sets a dangerous precedent,” said PEN Canada president Constance
Rooke, “which might well encourage future protests against a
wide-variety of books whose subject matter is objectionable to one group
or another. We urge the Board to bring the matter before the next meeting
of trustees, or a committee thereof, and formally request an invitation
for PEN Canada to speak on behalf of the book.”
The
CJC has objected to the book on the grounds that it is not appropriate for
younger readers. In a strongly-worded letter to the OLA, Dr. Frank
Bialystok, Chair of the Community Relations Committee of the Canadian
Jewish Congress Ontario Region, states that the book "serves only to
demonize both sides" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, exposing
students to "issues that are complex, neither fully explicated nor
properly contextualized." The OLA reviewed the CJC's objections and
stood by the book as being appropriate for younger readers.
Indeed,
Deborah Ellis has provided age-appropriate commentary that is both
balanced and nuanced in her introduction and in prefaces to each child's
story. While in a number of instances children express extreme views—for
example a Palestinian girl talks about wishing to see her suicide-bomber
sister in paradise, and an Israeli boy describes Palestinians as
"sneaky, full of tricks" and wishes they would all just leave
and live somewhere else—it is very clear that these are among the range
of voices sounding within the sad context of a bitter and intractable
dispute. Other children express a desire to be able to get to know the
other side and criticize both the suicide bombings and the excesses of the
Israeli Defence Force.
Deborah
Ellis is the award-winning author of such books as The Breadwinner
and Parvana's Journey. In Three Wishes she gives the
testimony of Palestinian and Israeli children who talk frankly about their
lives in a war-torn land. The book has been praised in many reviews and
was nominated by the Ontario Library Association (OLA) for its prestigious
Silver Birch Award, in which children from grades 4, 5 and 6 read and vote
on their favorite literary works.
As
Deborah Ellis writes, "The war in the Middle East has been going on
for so long, and in so many forms, that it often seems as if it will
continue forever. But war, like almost everything else humans do, is a
choice. Creating weapons is a choice. Allowing a child to go hungry or to
drink poisoned water is a choice. Sitting on the sidelines and doing
nothing to stop something that's wrong is a choice. The children in this
book talk about how the choices other people have made affect their lives.
The history of the area and its people is a weight that has been placed,
none too gently, on their shoulders."
In a March 3, 2006, letter to the Toronto District School Board, PEN Canada stated, “Often the very best literary work pokes light into dark places, and freedom of expression, inquiry and opinion is a cornerstone of our democratic society. Another cornerstone, of course, is an education system which promotes open discussion, learning, and debate.... [W]e urge you to consider what kind of message you would be sending to children if you withhold this work. You would be admitting that the school sys
