April's post:

Many of you have read "The Shepherd's Granddaughter", one of the nominated titles for this year's Red Maple Reading Program. You may also be aware of some of the controversy that has recently arisen concerning this book. Here is a link to an open letter asking for the book to be withdrawn from the Red Maple Program: Open Letter to Ontario's Education Minister. Here are some of the responses to this letter: Censorship Controversy Heats Up , Not Wise to Ban Children's Books , Jewish Groups Say... .

After reading the articles what do you think? Should the book be pulled from the competition because an organization dislikes its content? Who should decide what books get to be part of a competition like the Red Maple? Who should decide if a book is suitable for a school library? Are you old enough to read controversial books and decide for yourselves? How would you go about finding more information about the subject so that you could make up your own mind?

I think these are interesting questions and I would like you to weigh in with your thoughts about this topic of censorship. One of this month's posts needs to be a response to this issue.