Munsch, Munsch, Munsch

Robert Munsch is a Canadian children's author whose books have faced many challenges.

Thomas' Snowsuit, by Munsch, was challenged in Lloydminister, Alberta/Sask. because the teacher felt that the story undermined the authority of all school principals. The principal agreed and removed the book from the school library. Another school district followed suit. The cross-dressing of child and principal has raised objections.

Munsch had a librarian call to report that three of his books had received complaints in her school district and she was considering removing them. What she believed was an "organized movement," turned out to be two families in two different schools who had complained about the same books.

Authors also face pre-publishing censorship. Annick Press wanted Munsch to soften up The Paper Bag Princess. Elizabeth, the princess punches Prince Ronald in the nose. Munsch did not give in to pressure from Annick who believed there would be problems with censors. Following its publication, some parents complained that Munsch's The Paper Bag Princess was anti-family because the princess refuses to marry the prince. Other adults have not liked that Elizabeth calls Ronald a bum.

An article entitled Good libraries don't: The Censorship of Canadian Picture Books, tells of a number of challenges to picture books including those of Robert Munsch. In 1988, Munsch reported that, "I have to go pee!"—the repeated line in his book I Have to Go was replaced with, "I have to go to the bathroom."

Munsch said in a 1988 interview:

Kids love talking about peeing and farting, but they do not like stories where the mother says, "Go to hell!" to the father. That's a major taboo violation, and kids do not want an adult doing that. But to have an adult saying "bum" or "pee" that's great. "Underwear" is good too!

Munsch's Giant; or Waiting for the Thursday Boat was challenged in Middlesex and Welland Counties, Ontario for depicting violence towards God. Giant was returned to Middlesex school libraries with the restriction that, "because of the book's religious implications, it won't be in the primary curriculum and teachers won't be permitted to read it to children." Munsch stated that he thought people might be upset over the book on religious grounds but that their letters indicated that they were more upset over the violence in the book. According to a University of Saskatchewan Challenged List, objections to Giant were made on the basis of religion; morality; God portrayed as a little girl; angry Giant says he wants to kill God. Sources: (Roberts, 1996); (CBC4Kids, 2001).

Good Families Don't was the next book Munsch was working on when Giant was being challenged. Good families don't what? Fart. "God knows what the reaction to that is going to be!" thought Munsch. I am unable to find documentation on challenges, so let me know if you have read them. I don't doubt they are out there.

According to a University of Saskatchewan Challenged List, Murmel, Murmel, Murmel faced a challenge. The objection cited is "Human reproduction." Source: (Roberts, 1996)

I am unable to find documentation on Love you Forever but it seems that people either find the idea of the son rocking his elderly mother on his lap touching or weird and creepy. One review on Amazon from an ordinary reader says this,

I was horrified when I read I Love You Forever - another children's book by Mr. Munsch that results in a mother using a ladder to break into the house of her adult son to rock him in his sleep. Because my daughter liked the book, I taped all the wierd [sic] pages together to save the better parts of the story.

Please let me know if you know of a challenge of this book. My feeling is that adults are reading far too much into this touching story. This parent "save[d] the better parts of the story" or so she would like to think.

The Book To Save

Hello, As this is my first time blogging I thought I would answer one of the Moderator's questions. Which book would I memorize? I would memorize Something Good by Robert Munsch. Yes, I know that this is a children's story. However, it is a story that speaks to young children, older teens and adults alike. As a story teller, I love telling this story and watching faces recognize themselves, a sister or brother, a parent, or a child in the characters. The characters are everyday people dealing with their daily life and offering humour to the situation. As a storyteller, there are great opportunities to use voice and action to develop distinct personalities for each character. I would memorize this book because of the joy it has brought to my life and others. No it is not a banned book, but did you know that it took Robert Munsch years to publish Good Families Don't -- a book about a fart.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Have You Been Banned?

Author Bill Martin, Jr., one of the world's favourite children's authors, joins the ranks of Robert Munsch, Shel Silverstein, Maurice Sendak, and Roald Dahl, as a challenged author.

According to "Name Confusion Gets Kid's Author Banned from Texas Curriculum," an article in the Dallas News, the Texas Board of Education removed Bill Martin from the grade three curriculum because they believed he had written books for adults that contain "very strong critiques of capitalism and the American system."

The book on Marxism, entitled Ethical Marxism, was actually written by Bill Martin, a philosophy professor from Chicago.

Pat Hardy, the member of the school board who made the motion to exclude Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do you See? received a warning about the author's supposed political tendencies from another member of the school board who had not read the book.

Michael Sampson, Martin's co-author on 30 children's books stated that Hardy's motion is "a new low in terms of the group that's supposed to represent education having such faulty research and making such a false leap without substantiating what they're doing."

My first thought upon reading this article was, "So what if he wrote 'very strong critiques of capitalism and the American system?'" Does that somehow negate the value of this children's book, used by many primary school teachers to teach colour? The reason for banning this book smacks of McCarthyism. The importance of reading the book being challenged is proven by this incident.

Check out the video of Bill Martin, Jr. reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, then the spoof read by daddytypes.





There is still time to set your goal for the "Banned Book Challenge."

Challenged Canadian Authors

I was challenged by John Mutford, a regular reader of the blog to come up with some Canadian titles which have been banned or challenged. Here are some titles which you can use as part of the Canadian Book Challenge.





A number of Robert Munsch titles have been challenged.

Margaret Lawrence - Stone Angel, Diviners
Margaret Atwood - Handmaid's Tale
Mordecai Richler - Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
W. O. Mitchell - Who Has Seen the Wind
Alie Munro - Lives of Girls and Women, Runaway
Barbara Smucker - Underground to Canada
Deborah Ellis - Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak
Timothy Findley - The Wars
W. P. Kinsella - Dance Me Outside
Yvon Deschamps - Tout Deschamps
Mike Pearson - Waging War from Canada
Michelle Marineau - L'ete des Baleines
Derek O'Brien - Suffer Little Children

For a list of books which have been banned or challenged in Canada (but not necessarily written by Canadian authors), check Freedom to Read resources.

Happy reading John.