Donald Trump bans Julianne Moore’s children’s book ‘Freckleface Strawberry’: “I’m in great shock”
Why has Trump banned Julianne Moore’s children’s book ‘Freckleface Strawberry’?
First it was Denmark on Trump’s hit-list. Then it was Panama. Now it’s your children. The Trump administration has banned Julianne Moore‘s 2007 children’s book “Freckleface Strawberry” from schools in a move that the author described as “a great shock”.
In a post on social media, Moore wrote that “Freckleface Strawberry is a semi-autobiographical story about a seven year old girl who dislikes her freckles but eventually learns to live with them when she realizes that she is different “just like everybody else.” An incredibly popular story, it is illustrated by LeUyen Pham and was first published in 2007 before being added to with five more sequels.
Despite this seemingly innocuous description, that doesn’t mention violence, racism, xenophobia nor discrimination, last Monday the Department of Defense released a memo stating that it was examining books “potentially related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics”.
Official synopsis of the book:
“If you have freckles, you can try these things: 1) Make them go away. Unless scrubbing doesn’t work. 2) Cover them up. Unless your mom yells at you for using a marker. 3) Disappear. Um, where’d you go? Oh, there you are. There’s one other thing you can do: 4) LIVE WITH THEM! Because after all, the things that make you different also make you, YOU. From acclaimed actress Julianne Moore and award-winning illustrator LeUyen Pham comes a delightful story of a little girl who’s different … just like everybody else.”
‘Freedom of speech and expression is a constitutional right’
Moore added that “it is a book I wrote for my children and for other kids to remind them that we all struggle, but are united by our humanity and our community.”
The author said she was “stunned” by the shock decision to ban the book and said that it felt “galling for me to realize that kids like me, growing up with a parent in the service ... will not have access to a book written by someone whose life experience is so similar to their own. And I can’t help but wonder what is so controversial about this picture book that cause it to be banned by the US Government.”
“I am truly saddened and never thought I would see this in a country where freedom of speech and expression is a constitutional right”.
The picture book is not the only piece of literature on the banned list. The Department of Defence Education Activity are ready to conduct a “compliance review” more works, which have been “relocated to the professional collection for evaluation with access limited to professional staff”.
The Independent reports that “this investigation is meant to ensure that schools under the Department of Defence, which serve US military families, are in compliance with the new executive orders signed by Donald Trump titled Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government and Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling.”
The American Library Association and the American Association of School Librarians hit back, attacking the ban as a “shameful censorship” designed to “silence the voices of Americans whose lives reflect the diversity of our nation”.
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