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Freedom to Read Week is an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom. As of 2024, Freedom to Read Week entered a new phase led by Library and Archives Canada, the Canadian Urban Library Council, and the Ontario Library Association in partnership with the Book and Periodical Council.
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| Maia Kobabe | A graphic memoir reflecting on Kobabe's exploration of gender identity and sexuality from adolesence to adulthood. |
Reason for challenge: | sexually explicit, 2SLGBTQIA+ content |
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| Sarah J. Maas | Feyre is brought to the land of faeries to face punishment but instead is made to live with her captor, Tamlin, a High Lord of Prythian, and learns that what she previously knew of the faerie world is a lie. |
Reason for challenge: | sexually explicit |
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| Julie Murphy | A story of a fat girl and how her weight influences her relationships and place in the world. |
Reason for challenge: | sexually explicit, offensive language |
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ttyl
| Lauren Myracle | The story of Zoe, Maddie, and Angela, 3 friends entering the 10th grade told in text message. |
Reason for challenge: | sexually explicit, formatting of story |
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| Angie Thomas | Starr sees her childhood friend killed by a police officer and speaks out about their death while tensions grow due to a grand jury’s refusal to indict the officer responsible. |
Reason for challenge: | offensive language, anti-police sentiments |
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| David Robertson |
The story of the life and brutal death of a young Cree woman from Norway House Reserve that was murdered while walking down the street in a Manitoba town. | Reason for challenge: |
graphic violence |
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| Mariko Tamaki | The story of Rose, her summer friend, Windy, and their growing awareness of boys, adults, and the larger world around them. |
Reason for challenge: | sexually explicit, use of substances, 2SLGBTQIA+ content |
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Anne Frank's Diary |
Anne Frank | Writings from a young girl’s diary while she and her family hid during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. |
Reason for challenge: | 2SLGBTQIA+ content, "a real downer", format is "minimizing" of the Holocaust |
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| Cecily Von Ziegesar | The world of jealousy and betrayal at an exclusive private school in Manhattan. |
Reason for challenge: | sexually explicit, use of substances, offensive language |
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| M. T. Anderson | In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble |
Reason for challenge: | offensive language |
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| Jerry Craft | Enrolled in a prestigious private school where he is one of only a few students of color, talented seventh grade artist Jordan finds himself torn between the worlds of his Washington Heights apartment home and the upscale circles of Riverdale Academy. |
Reason for challenge: | discussion of race |
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| Roald Dahl |
Taking up where Charlie and the Chocolate Factory leaves off, Charlie, his family, and Mr. Wonka find themselves launched into space in the great glass elevator | Reason for challenge: |
depictions of racial stereotypes
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| Elizabeth Laird | During the Israeli occupation of Ramallah in the West Bank of Palestine, twelve-year-old Karim and his friends create a secret place for themselves where they can momentarily forget the horrors of war |
Reason for challenge: | discussions of race, political leaning |
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| Hope Larson |
A graphic novel adaptation of the classic tale in which Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government | Reason for challenge: |
depictions of religion |
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Barbara Park | Junie B. is so scared of the school bus and the meanies on it that when it’s time to go home, she doesn’t. |
Reason for challenge: | protagonist is a poor role model |
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| Katherine Paterson | Jess copes with tragedy by going to a secret kingdom in the woods invented by newcomer Leslie Burke. |
Reason for challenge: | depictions of religion, discussions of death, offensive language |
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| Dav Pilkey |
When George and Harold hypnotize their principal into thinking that he is the superhero Captain Underpants, he leads them to the lair of the nefarious Dr. Diaper, where they must defeat his evil robot henchmen. | Reason for challenge: |
offensive languge, violence |
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| Alvin Schwartz | Traditional and modern-day tales and "jump" stories of ghosts, witches, vampires, haunts, superstitions, monsters and horrible scary things. |
Reason for challenge: | offensive languge, violence, satanism |
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| Raina Telgemeier | Callie rides an emotional roller coaster while serving on the stage crew for a middle school production of Moon over Mississippi as various relationships start and end, and others never quite get going. |
Reason for challenge: | 2SLGBTQAI+ content, political leaning |
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| E. B. White | Fern raises the little runt pig, Wilbur, only to have her father give him away |
Reason for challenge: | depictions of talking animals |
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| J. J Austrian | The insect community preparing to attend the wedding of two apparently identical worms and wondering which will wear the tux and which the gown before deciding it does not matter. |
Reason for challenge: | 2SLGBTQIA+ content |
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| Peter Brown | Fred, a youngster who enjoys being free and unclothed, wanders into his parents' closet and tries on their clothes, with fun and fashionable results. |
Reason for challenge: | depictions of nudity, 2SLGBTQIA+ content |
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| Seuss | Pairs of rhyming words are used in simple sentences to help beginning readers understand the use of words and phrases |
Reason for challenge: | concerns about calls for violence against fathers |
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| Bill Martin | Animal illustrations and captions provide an entertaining introduction to color concepts and word-recognition skills. |
Reason for challenge: | confusion about author's identity |
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| Todd Parr | Offers a look at the different types of families there are in the world today. |
Reason for challenge: | 2SLGBTQIA+ content |
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| Gayle E. Pitman | A picture book illustrating a Pride parade. The endmatter serves as a primer on LGBT history and culture and explains the references made in the story. |
Reason for challenge: | 2SLGBTQIA+ content |
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| Seuss | A greedy individual, the cantankerous Once-ler, thoughtlessly pollutes the air, land, and water of the Bar-ba-loots' paradise, Truffula Forest, in order to build his giant industry. |
Reason for challenge: | anti-logging sentiment |
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| Robert N. Munsch | After her castle and clothes are destroyed by a dragon, Princess Elizabeth, dressed only in a paper bag, sets out to rescue her fiance, Prince Ronald, who was taken captive |
Reason for challenge: | portrayal of gender roles, offensive language |
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| Tomie DePaola |
A treasury of six previously published stories about Strega Nona, the 'grandmother witch,' and her sidekick, the bumbling Big Anthony. | Reason for challenge: |
depictions of religion, witchcraft |
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| Yangsook Choi | After Unhei moves from Korea to the United States, she is anxious for her new classmates to like her, so to find a name they can more easily pronounce, they decide to help her by filling a glass jar with names for her to pick from. |
Reason for challenge: | discussions of race |
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| Maya Angelou | The autobiography describing the early years of Maya Angelou. |
Reason for challenge: | portrayals of sexual violence |
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| Rachel Carson | The classic environmental study that discusses the reckless annihilation of wildlife by the use of pesticides and warns of the possible genetic effects on humans. |
Reason for challenge: | concerns about anti-pesticide sentiments |
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| Ta-Nehisi Coates | Told through the author's own evolving understanding of the subject over the course of his life comes a bold and personal investigation into America's racial history and its contemporary echoes. |
Reason for challenge: | discussion of race |
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| Nelson DeMille | Detective John Corey and his wife, FBI Agent Kate Mayfield, unravel a plot that starts with the Custer Hill Club and ends with American cities locked in the crosshairs of a nuclear device.. |
Reason for challenge: | violence, promotion of hate |
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| Rupi Kaur | Poems that deal with the bitter aspects of love, loss, abuse, violence, and trauma, and celebrates the unstoppable power of grace, healing, and feminine strength. |
Reason for challenge: | portrayals of sexual and gender based violence
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| Jeff Lemire | After moving to his uncle's farm, 10-year-old orphan Lester befriends the town's gas station owner, damaged former hockey star Jimmy Lebeuf, and the two escape to a fantasy world of super-heroes, alien invaders, and old-fashioned pond hockey |
Reason for challenge: | offensive language, use of substances, discussion of suicide |
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| Adam Mansbach | A satirical bedtime book for parents. |
Reason for challenge: | offensive language |
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| Jeannette Walls | The child of a scholarly, alcoholic father and an eccentric artist mother discusses her family's nomadic upbringing during which her siblings and she fended for themselves while their parents outmaneuvered bill collectors and the authorities. |
Reason for hallenge: | offensive language, discussion of religion, portrayals of sexual abuse
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