Censorship Roundup

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Staff -- School Library Journal, 02/01/2003

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Lucedale, MS: The George County school board has banned John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men and two other books from district classrooms and libraries after a grandparent complained about the books' profanity and violence. Board member Larry McDonald initiated the January 7 vote, which also banned Fallen Angels (Scholastic, 1988) by Walter Dean Myers and The Things They Carried (Houghton, 1990) by Tim O'Brien, two novels about the Vietnam War. McDonald told the Clarion-Ledger that he was appalled by the profanity, violence, and degradation of women in Fallen Angels.

Moscow, Russia: The Moscow prosecutor's office will not pursue a criminal case based on allegations that J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series incites religious hatred. The office issued the December 31, 2002, decision after investigating a complaint filed by a representative of the International Foundation for Slavic Literature against Rosman Publishing, the Russian publisher of the series.

The foundation claimed that Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets "instilled religious extremism and prompted students to join religious organizations of Satanist followers," reported Interfax. Rowling's series is enormously popular in Russia, with more than 1.2 million copies sold.

Ottawa, Canada: Canada's Supreme Court has struck down a British Columbia school board's 1997 ban of three books that depict same-sex parents —Asha's Mums (Women's Press, 1990) by Rosamund Elwin, Belinda's Bouquet (1991) by Lesléa Newman, and One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dads, Blue Dads (1994, both Alyson Publications) by Johnny Valentine. In a 7–2 vote, the court ruled on December 20, 2002, that the Surrey school board violated a requirement that B.C. public schools remain secular and nonsectarian when it rejected the three books for use in kindergarten and first grade classes. Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said that the board was swayed by parents who opposed homosexuality on religious grounds and that the schools have a duty to ensure respect for diversity, reports the Edmonton Sun.

James Chamberlain, a gay teacher who sought to use the books in class, took the case to court, claiming that the board didn't have the authority to ban the books.