Julianne Moore has said it is a “great shock” to learn that one of her books had been “banned by the Trump Administration” from schools serving the children of US military personnel and civilian defence employees.
The Boogie Nights and Mary & George star wrote that she was “truly saddened” by the news in an Instagram post on Sunday.
Last Monday, the Department of Defense circulated a memo stating that it is examining library books “potentially related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics”. After access to all library books was suspended for a week for a review, a “small number of items” were identified and have been kept for “further review”, it said.
Moore’s Freckleface Strawberry, a story about a girl who dislikes her freckles but learns to live with them, is among the books caught up in the blanket review, according to a list obtained by the Guardian. However, it is not known whether the title was selected for further review or for withdrawal.
“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,” said Moore.
The review of library books is part of an examination of all “instructional resources”, according to the Defense Department, to check that its schools are aligned with Trump’s recent executive orders Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling and Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism.
Moore, who won an Oscar in 2015 for Still Alice, said that she is “particularly stunned” by the news because she is a “proud graduate” of the now-closed Frankfurt American high school, operated by the Defense Department, adding that her father is a Vietnam veteran and spent his career in the US army.
“I could not be prouder of him and his service to our country. It is galling for me to realise that kids like me, growing up with a parent in the service and attending a [Defense Department] school, 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 has caused it to be banned by the US government.”
Other books that are part of the “compliance review” include No Truth Without Ruth by Kathleen Krull, about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to sit on the US supreme court. Books removed from library shelves have been relocated to “the professional collection for evaluation with access limited to professional staff”.
“I am truly saddened and never thought I would see this in a country where freedom of speech and expression is a constitutional right,” added Moore.
