Freedom to Read Week

A selection of titles that have been banned or challenged in Canada. Freedom to Read Week is an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom, which is guaranteed to them under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Updated February 22, 2025
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Greater Victoria Public Library Greater Victoria Public Library
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Freedom to Read Week

A selection of titles that have been banned or challenged in Canada. Freedom to Read Week is an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom, which is guaranteed to them under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

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To kill a mockingbird
Lee, Harper
Paper Book
"Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel--a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and...
All boys aren't blue : a memoir-manifesto
Johnson, George M.
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller and the #1 Most Challenged Book in America according to the American Library Association In a series of personal essays, award-winning author and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson's All Boys Aren't Blue explores their childhood,...
The handmaid's tale
Atwood, Margaret
Paper Book
One of the most powerful and most widely read novels of our time in display-worthy hardcover: A gripping vision of our society radically overturned by a theocratic revolution--from "the patron saint of feminist dystopian fiction" (The New York Times) The sixth and final season...
The diviners
Laurence, Margaret
Paper Book
Morag Gunn, now in her mid-forties, lives in a riverside farmhouse in Eastern Ontario. Through a series of flashbacks she reviews the painful and exhilarating moments of her earlier life: her childhood on the social margins of the small prairie town of Manawaka; her escape from a demeaning marriage...
Lives of girls and women
Munro, Alice
Paper Book
The debut novel from Nobel Prize-winning author Alice Munro, "one of the most eloquent and gifted writers of contemporary fiction" (The New York Times). "Munro has an unerring talent for uncovering the extraordinary in the ordinary."--Newsweek  
The bluest eye
Morrison, Toni
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A PARADE BEST BOOK OF ALL TIME * From the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner--a powerful examination of our obsession with beauty and conformity that asks questions about race, class, and gender with characteristic subtlety and grace. * With a new introduction by Jacqueline...
A jest of God
Laurence, Margaret
Ebook
'An almost perfect book' MARGARET ATWOOD. Whenever I find myself thinking in a brooding way, I must simply turn it off and think of something else. God forbid that I should turn into an eccentric. Rachel Cameron is a shy, retiring schoolmistress, tethered to her overbearing...
Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone
Rowling, J. K.
Paper Book
Loved by millions of readers worldwide, let the first story in the greatest children's book series of all time take you on an unforgettable journey. The hope and wonder of Harry Potter's world will make you want to escape to Hogwarts again and again. The magic starts here! ...
This book is gay
Dawson, James (Young adult fiction writer)
Paper Book
A funny and pertinent book about being lesbian, bisexual, gay, queer, transgender or just curious - for everybody, no matter their gender or sexuality
The hate u give
Thomas, Angie
Paper Book
*Lead promotion at NCTE 2016, including booth blow-up and extensive ARC distribution * Lead promotion at ALA Midwinter 2017, including standing sign in attendee registration area, booth blow-up, and extensive ARC distribution * Lead promotion at TLA 2017, including booth blow-up and...
Northern lights
Pullman, Philip
Paper Book
Lyra Belacqua and her animal daemon live half-wild and carefree among scholars of Jordan College, Oxford. The destiny that awaits her will take her to the frozen lands of the Arctic, where witch-clans reign and ice-bears fight. Her extraordinary journey will have immeasurable consequences far beyond...
Bedtime for Frances
Hoban, Russell
Paper Book
This beloved classic bedtime book continues to spark giggles and is a perfect read-aloud at bedtime. It may be bedtime for Frances, but before Frances can sleep, she needs a glass of milk, a kiss from Father, one from Mother, her teddy bear, her doll, another kiss from Father, and another...
Of mice and men
Steinbeck, John
Paper Book
Drifters in search of work, George and his simple-minded friend Lennie, have nothing in the world except each other - and a dream. A dream that one day they will have some land of their own. Eventually they find work on a ranch, but their hopes are doomed as Lennie - struggling against extreme...
Gender queer : a memoir
Kobabe, Maia
Paper Book
2020 ALA Alex Award Winner 2020 Stonewall -- Israel Fishman Non-fiction Award Honor Book In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was...
Flamer
Curato, Mike
Paper Book
Named one of Kirkus' best books of the 21st century. Award-winning author and artist Mike Curato draws on his own experiences in Flamer, his debut graphic novel, telling a difficult story with humor, compassion, and love. "This book will...
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