After receiving glowing praise from reviewers including the American Library Association, and being nominated for the Ontario Library Association’s prestigious Silver Birch Award, I’m sure Deborah Ellis was as surprised as I was when various school boards across Ontario, including the large Toronto District School Board, decided to restrict access to her recent book Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak to a number of Ontario students.

Responding to a complaint by the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Toronto District School Board decided to pull Three Wishes — which tells the honest and poignant stories of children caught in a conflict that is beyond their control — off the shelves of all libraries serving students under the seventh grade. While the CJC claims that the book “demonizes both sides” of the conflict, I believe more harm is being done by hiding Ellis’ book from students than allowing them to read it and understand how other people their own age live.

In a special statement by Deborah Ellis published in the Toronto Star entitled Kids are tough enough for the truth, Ellis states that “anything we subject children to should be reflected in our literature for young people, limited only by the skills of the writer to present these crimes in a sensitive, respectful way. Otherwise, we are adding to the silence and the disappearance of the victims.” Indeed, censorship is no way to handle a situation like this: instead, we should be allowing children to read this book and then ask questions. When Ontario’s students read books like Three Wishes, they are engaging in a process of learning and questioning that will only help increase dialogue and understanding, rather than “demonize” anyone.

A press release issued by PEN Canada (see pdf here) applauds the Ontario Library Association for recognizing Ellis’ book, and urges the Toronto District School Board to reconsider their decision to censor an important piece of children’s literature:

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.

Censorship of this kind will not ‘protect’ children from the real issues that envelop our globe. Instead, it will hurt Ontario’s students, as they will not be equipped with the understanding necessary to learn more about these pressing issues. I hope that the Toronto District School Board, along with other school boards across Ontario, reconsider and allow Ellis’ wonderful exposé about a difficult topic be shared with the people who need to read it the most: our country’s future.