Web Banner from freedomtoread.ca. // Barbara Klunder (illustration), Reva Pomer (design), Webcom (printing)

Did you know that it’s Freedom to Read Week? Yes, you heard right. The annual celebration of intellectual freedom started on Sunday, and Five Rivers thought we should join the party. Five Rivers has been lucky to have all our books challenge-free, but we still believe that every time you pick up a Five Rivers book you are exercising your freedom to read, explore and think.

We are ecstatic you deem our books worth your time, and do know that somewhere out there, you are defying oppression against freedom of thought! To encourage you, we give you (fictional) letters to stoke your reading fire because, baby, we love that little rebel in you!

Dear Five Rivers,

Trolls are traditionally undesirable characters. They live under bridges taunting unsuspecting billy goats. They carelessly eat meat past dawn. And they have been known to have particularly disgusting bogies. My Life as a Troll by Susan Bohnet depicts an on-line world where trolls aren’t the way they’re supposed to be. They have cool abilities and the hero of the story, a teenage boy with enough things to worry about in his life, becomes more and more troll-like. This is both disturbing and captivating. Readers shouldn’t have to face ambiguity about the nature of trolls in their literature. This book should be banned!

Name (and sense) Withheld

Well, you can’t blame Mrs. Withheld for her concern about the confusing internet terminologies. Or can you? Can we tempt you to write back?

If you are unlike Mrs. Withheld and would like to have your young’uns know there is more to trolls than taunting billy goats and meat pies after dawn, check out My Life as a Troll, because you have that freedom to read! My Life as a Troll will open to you a world of online games where trolls are the crew you want to hang out with and be like, but ultimately, not really.

If you’re looking for a copy of My Life as a Troll, you can find it on Amazon, Kobo, and Indigo. Come see us trollin’, and join us defeating Mrs. Witheld for troll word usage diversity!

We are also issuing a call for response; if your wit is quick and sharp we want you on our team and in our comment box! Of course, you can also use it for questions, and things.

Happy Freedom to Read!