More on censorship: A Little Piece of Ground

A couple of years ago, an award-winning British author, Elizabeth Laird, wrote a novel called A Little Piece of Ground. Like Deborah Ellis’ book, Three Wishes, this one too delved into the thorny issue of Palestinian/Israeli issues.

In Deborah’s case, the censorship is backfiring. The media and writers’ organizations are clearly in support of her freedom of expression. In Elizabeth Laird’s situation, the opposite is true. Here’s the amazon page about her book:

http://tinyurl.com/pxzch

Here’s some background on the controversy:

http://www.canpalnet.ca/archive/vkbs.html

When the controversy erupted, I was intrigued.

I tried to get the A Little Piece of Ground in bookstores, and it couldn’t be found anywhere. Even Chapters online did not carry it. I was able to finally get it through Amazon and I read it myself. It’s an excellent novel, told from the point of view of a Palestinian child.

Maybe I’m naive, but I don’t understand why there is always such a push for censorship every time a children’s book tackles this difficult subject. I think the more we can read on the issue, the better.

I just searched on the chapters site, and it is now listed. I guess now that it’s out of the news, it’s okay to sell it again.

Marsha Skrypuch
www.calla.com

Author: Marsha

I write historical fiction, mostly from the perspective of young people who are thrust in the midst of war. View all posts by Marsha