Terrorism Threat Derails Children’s Book

The Christmastime terrorism threat in Detroit that led to a widespread misunderstanding about books being banned on flights to the United States out of Canada continues to have literary repercussions.

A book by renowned children’s author Robert Munsch (Love You Forever, The Paper Bag Princess) will be postponed, at least for a while, though the author certainly understands why. According to the The Toronto Star, the story “about a child sneaking dolls on a plane has been put on hold given the heightened security at airports after the attempted Christmas bombing of a plane in the United States.”

Since then, airports have implemented a number of measures, from forcing travellers to undergo physical pat-downs or even body scans to a ban on carry-on luggage.

“We were going to do a story on a little girl who smuggles all these dolls onto a plane, but then that thing happened in Detroit,” said Munsch. “Scholastic calls me up in a panic saying, ‘Hold everything, that kid couldn’t smuggle anything onto the plane, she’s lucky to get onto the plane herself.’”

Munsch said he had no problem with the change, and even chuckled about the coincidence of a story of his clashing with a real-life situation. He is now in talks with the publisher on his next project.

The Star piece is here.