Three Wishes Dispute

by Bernard Katz

On April 26, 2006, the Toronto District School Board upheld a decision made earlier by Gerry Connelly, its Director of Education, concerning Deborah Ellis’ Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak, one of the 10 nonfiction books selected for the 2006 Silver Birch Awards competition.

In late 2005, early 2006, there had been a few complaints, notably from the Community Relations Committee of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region (CJC), who opined that the book was completely unsuitable for students from grades 4 to 6 (the specific grades covered by Silver Birch), despite a generally positive review by Linda Silver, the coeditor of children’s and teens’ book reviews for the Association of Jewish Libraries. Although Silver found fault with some aspects of the book, she stated in the November/December, 2004 issue of the AJL Newsletter >that it was “recommended with reservations for grades 5 to 12.” Many other reviewers found the book equally suitable and extremely compelling.