Singapore: Destruction of children’s books halted by public outcry

Jul 18 2014
Written by Alice Milliken

The planned pulping of editions of two children’s books removed from libraries earlier this month have been halted today due to outcry over censorship.

The Singapore National Library Board (NLB) was stopped from destroying ‘And Tango Makes Three’ and ‘The White Swan Express.’

Last week the NLB decided to remove and destroy all copies of ‘And Tango Makes Three’, ‘The White Swan Express’ and ‘Who’s In My Family’, three books featuring LGBT families, including gay couples.

The banned books have now been moved into the adult section where parents can choose whether or not to borrow them for their children.

Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim spoke about the decision on his Facebook page: “We stand by NLB’s decision to remove the three books from the children’s section. The board will continue to ensure that books in the children’s section are age-appropriate”.

‘Whose In My Family,’ a book discussing different types of families including a gay couple, was destroyed preceding today’s stay.

Hundreds of people gathered at the library branch last week to read the books to their children as a form of protest.

Earlier this week three judges of this year’s Singapore Literature Prize resigned due to the book banning actions taken by the NLB.