Toronto Star, Feb. 28.
Tess Kalinowski
Education Reporter

A Burlington Grade 5 student has become the first child to receive the Writers' Union of Canada's Freedom to Read Award.

Evie Freedman, 10, is being honoured for her spirited defence last year of the controversial book, Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak by Simcoe author Deborah Ellis.

The book was pulled out of circulation in some Ontario school libraries, including those in the Toronto and York public boards, after the Canadian Jewish Congress complained it was an inappropriate selection for the Ontario Library Association's Silver Birch reading awards program.

The Halton public board, where Evie attends Charles R. Beaudoin Public School , did not pull the book.

But children like her are among the most affected by book bans, said Ron Brown, chair of the writers' union.

Because of Evie, "we were able to get the message of freedom to read to students of that age," he said.

An ardent fan of Ellis' books, Evie was widely quoted in the press objecting to the censorship of Three Wishes.

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