‘Four to five’ books withheld each week from school libraries

It would appear that Mario Azzopardi’s Vampir is not alone in encountering resistance from the School Library Services. In a letter to MaltaToday last Wednesday, SLS’s former director Joseph Boffa revealed that the number of books withheld from school libraries each year is considerably higher than previously supposed.

“It may surprise people to know that on average some four to five books are withheld each week,” Mr Boffa wrote. “No fuss, no press comments, just a tete-a-tete with the teacher-librarians/s concerned and the book/s are normally retrieved by the school and exchanged for others.”

It may surprise people even more to find out which books in particular were withheld on the recommendation of the SLS during 2010. On Friday, the Education Ministry finally consented to MaltaToday’s request (made the previous Tuesday) and revealed last year’s selection of ‘objectionable’ books.

Some titles on the list may certainly be considered unsuitable for school-age readers. One, by Alec Burrett, is subtitled ‘short stories for adults’, while Jane Harris’s Five Quarters of The Orange – which deals with the consequences of rape – is clearly aimed at a mature readership.

However, others appear at a glance to be ideal school library material. For instance, William Mayne’s Ravengill, published by Hodder’s Books for Children, is rated as ‘suitable for all ages”. Similarly, David Ball’s Sword and the Scimitar, a swashbuckling historical novel set against the backdrop of the Great Siege, is considered suitable for teenagers.

One in particular – Christie Golden’s Arthas - is based on the popular computer game World of Warcraft: a multi-player role playing game played by children of 13 and upwards.

The list also includes multiple award-winning titles, such as Susanne Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: winner of the Man Booker Prize, as well as the Whitbread, Hugo and Time awards for Best Novel of 2004.

Ironically, the list also includes classics such as D. H. Lawrence’s Women In Love and Lady Chatterley’s Lover – whose infamous ‘consummation scene’ had shocked polite society in distant 1928, ultimately leading to the seminal 1960 acquittal of Penguin Books, and with it the end of legal censorship in the UK.

Elsewhere, Voltaire’s Candide is notable mainly for its humorous satirical assault on the Catholic establishment of the 18^th century, for which it earned itself a position on the Index (the list of books considered ‘sinful; to own or have read).

Nor is Candide the only inclusion whose primary ‘fault’ appears to be linked with a ‘dubious’ presentation of clergy, aith and morals. Other examples include Alfred Sant’s Silg Fuq Kemmuna, with its unflattering portrayal of priests in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as George Gregory Busuttil’s Of Craft and Honour(subtitled: Templar lore and freemasonry betrayed meet in Catholic Malta).

Apart from questioning the selection criteria used in determining the list below, people involved in the publishing industry have also questioned the way the decision was taken. On its website, School Library Services lists Ms Marisa Calleja as its director: prompting media reports that she was ‘keeping a low profile’, allowing Mr Boffa, who is retired, to run the department instead.

Contacted this week, Ms Calleja vehemently denied allegations that she was ‘in hiding’, or somehow abdicating her responsibilities as SLS director. However, when asked about how the decision to withhold books was taken, she immediately referred this newspaper to Joseph Boffa – who also signed SLS’s letter to MaltaToday last Wednesday.

Separately, a spokesman for the Education Ministry was anxious to dispel the impression that the books on the list had been ‘censored’.

“This is a question of classification, not censorship,” the ministry official said. “All the books that were removed from sections of school libraries, are available in public libraries, which are also the responsibility of this Ministry.”