- Target:
- Canada Council for the Arts
- Region:
- Canada
Update ***The following petition with its signatures and comments was submitted to the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA) in May 2015. Here (http://tinyurl.com/ogynf8a) is the correspondence so far between the petition's creator and the CCA.***
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"Each year, the Governor General’s Literary Awards (the GGs) honour the best in Canadian literature" states the opening sentence of the Governor General's Literary Awards page on the internet. This year, the award for the best in children's literature went to Raziel Reid for his book for Young Adults called 'When Everything Feels Like The Movies'.
The "Young Adults" classification generally encompasses readers between the ages of 12-18.
Here is a short excerpt from the 2nd page of the book which is narrated by the protagonist, a teenage boy named Jude:
“Tight boots,” she said, lighting a joint.
“They’re my mom’s. She wears them when she dresses as a school girl and dances to ‘Baby One More Time.’ I totally helped choreograph her routine.”
“Forty years old and still dressing like an underage slut,” Angela laughed. “I think I’ll make a Facebook fan page for her when I get home.”
I licked a picture in the tabloid I was holding. “Sorry,” I said, “I have to make the Hemsworth brothers as wet as they make me.”
“No need to apologize, dude,” Angel snapped a Polaroid. “I’d do them both at the same time.”
“You’d do them both in the same hole,” I laughed. “But who wouldn’t?”
“Who do you think is bigger,” she asked, “Chris or Liam?”
“Liam. He’d have to be to fill Miley.”
It continues in the same vulgar fashion. We feel that this book damages the high standards we have come to expect of the Governor General's Award. It is not what we as parents, grandparents, educators and fellow authors consider good literature for teens.
By signing this petition we ask the Canadian Council for the Arts to revoke the award given to Raziel Reid and assign it to one of the other more worthy short-listed authors.
To read the first chapter of Reid's book go to this link: http://lemonhound.com/2014/09/29/raziel-reid-from-when-everything-feels-like-the-movies/
Given the offensive and graphic nature of the words and images used in Raziel Reid’s novel for Young Adults and the influence this will have on children’s minds, and given that the Governor General’s Award has the mandate to honor the best in Canadian Literature, we the undersigned, request that the Canada Council for the Arts revoke the Governor General’s Award for literature from Raziel Reid.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Revoke the Governor General's Award for Literature from Raziel Reid petition to Canada Council for the Arts was written by Samara Koning and is in the category Literature at GoPetition.