Books pulled from B.C. district curriculum in what premier calls ‘crazy decision’

globalnews.ca:

Surrey School District has quietly pulled four books from the reading curriculum for students in Grade 10 and above due to concerns about controversial themes.In November 2023, a panel of 12 teachers decided to pull the books from the recommended reading curriculum.The books will still be available in the library and teachers can apply to teach them, but they won’t be part of the recommended reading lists.The four books are: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and In the Heat of the Night by John Ball.Ritinder Matthew, the communications officer for the Surrey School District, told Global News on Thursday that the review of these four books began more than a year ago after feedback from parents and others in the community.“We received a lot of feedback from families of students not feeling safe in the classroom when these resources were used,” she said.Using To Kill a Mockingbird as an example, Matthew said the review found the “portrayal of Black characters as one-dimensional, the use of the white saviour trope, the use of ableist language, the use of the N-word, noting it’s normalized in the text and not necessarily used as a slur, but often as another word for Black people.

And that’s completely offensive and inappropriate.”Matthew added that the district is recommending other books to use instead, such as Beloved by Toni Morrison, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Brother by David Chariandy, The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead and Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.“They give agency and voice to characters that are from historically racialized, marginalized or underrepresented groups who are in positions of power, strength or