Former First Lady Michelle Obama.Photo: Paras Griffin/Getty
A Texas school district reportedly says it won’t remove a biography aboutMichelle Obamafollowing a complaint from a parent who said they felt the book about unfairly portrays former PresidentDonald Trumpas a bully.
NBC News reports that 86 formal requests were filed to remove books from school libraries last year. The list of books includes the Obama biography, which the parent also said makes it seem that “if you sound like a white girl you should be ashamed of yourself.”
In a statement provided to PEOPLE, Schwartz said she was “shocked that anyone would want to ban” her book, which was written for children.
“This is a nonfiction book that doesn’t strike me as at all controversial,” the author said, in part. “I take great pains in my work to present fact-based information and avoid any political slant.”
According to Insider,which reported Wednesdayon the ban request, the Katy school district reviewed the book as is standard for any formal complaint and determined it would not be removed. (The district did not immediately respond to a request for comment from PEOPLE.)
Other books Texas parents reportedly attempted to have banned last year include an illustrated children’s book about Olympian Wilma Rudolph, who grew up in 1940s Texas (one parent alleged the book “opines prejudice based on race”); Toni Morrison’sThe Bluest Eye(which one parent wanted banned because it includes a rape scene); and the acclaimed 2003 novelThe Kite Runner, about a wealthy Afghan boy and his servant (the parent wanted the book banned because of a sexual abuse scene involving a child).
In Tennessee, the McMinn County Board of Education recently voted to remove Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novelMaus, an animated retelling of the author’s father’s experience in the Holocaust. The book was banned from an eighth-grade lesson plan about the Holocaust because it included nudity and curse words.
TheNew York Timesreports that The American Library Association reported an “unprecedented” 330 reports of book challenges last fall.
source: people.com
