Oscar-winning actress Julianne Moore has expressed “great shock” over the removal of her children’s book about inclusivity and acceptance from schools operated by the US Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) following orders passed by President Donald Trump. .
Moore said in an Instagram post Sunday that she wrote the book Freckleface Strawberry to remind children that “we all struggle but are united by our humanity and our community”.
“It is galling for me to realize that kids like me, growing up with a parent in the service and attending a @dodea_edu school will not have access to a book written by someone whose life experiences is so similar to their own,” she added.
The DoDEA, which oversees 160 schools for military families worldwide, is conducting a “compliance review” of books in its system to determine whether they align with two executive orders issued by US President Donald Trump regarding “gender ideology”.
“As part of the review, books potentially related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics as defined in the Executive Orders will be relocated to the professional staff collection for evaluation,” DoDEA spokesperson Will Griffin said in a statement to CNN. “During this period, access will be limited to professional staff.”
Moore questioned why her book was included in the review. “I can’t help but wonder what is so controversial about this picture book that cause it to be banned by the US Government,” she wrote.
Published in 2007, Freckleface Strawberry is the first in a series of books by Moore about a seven-year-old girl “who’s learning to love the skin she’s in”, according to the series’ website. The book is based on Moore’s own childhood experience of being teased for her freckles and red hair. The main character ultimately learns that “the things that make you different also make you YOU”.
Moore, whose father was a Vietnam war veteran, attended a DoDEA school in Frankfurt, Germany. In addition to the Freckleface Strawberry series, she has written another children’s book, My Mother is a Foreigner, But Not to Me.
