OLA: 2007 Dec. 19
Halton Catholic District School Board has the distinction of being the first Catholic school board in North America known to have removed Philip Pullman's ten-year-old novel, The Golden Compass, from its school library shelves. It removed all three books in the series. The Toronto Star says that it did so in spite of the Board's review committee recommending that it be left on shelves.
There is at least one other Catholic school board in Ontario reviewing the book and American Libraries On-line reports that one school in the United States has it under review, while a second that had removed it has now reinstated it.
Greater Sudbury Public Library declined to delete The Golden Compass from its 2007 list of books for 4th–6th-graders participating in the library’s annual Battle of the Books competition after a parent's complaint.
