Julianne Moore is in ‘great shock’ after the Trump administration bans her book

Back in 2007, actress Julianne Moore wrote a children’s book, Freckleface Strawberry, about her own experiences growing up red-haired and with freckles.

It was all about how “the things that make you different also make you, YOU” and it was designed to make young girls feel better about any unusual features they might have. Artist LeUyen Pham illustrated the book and it flew off the shelves. It was so successful that it spawned several sequels, and it’s impossible to count the amount of children (and parents) who were moved by it.

And now the Trump administration has banned it from Department of Defense-run schools. The Department of Defense Education Activity now forces its schools to fall in with the Trump-MAGA ideology. Anything about “equity” has been removed. Black History Month is no longer celebrated. It’s a terrible situation, caused by terrible people, and Moore herself is extremely upset.

“It is a great shock for me to learn that my first book, Freckleface Strawberry, has been banned by the Trump Administration from schools run by the Department of Defense,” she wrote on Instagram. “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.” 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.”

She went on, “I am particularly stunned because I am a proud graduate of Frankfurt American High School a #DOD school that once operated in Frankfurt, Germany. I grew up with a father who is a Vietnam veteran and spent his career in the #USArmy. I could not be prouder of him and his service to our country. 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 experience is so similar to their own.”

Then she asked the question we’re all wondering. “I can’t help but wonder what is so controversial about this picture book that cause it to be banned by the US Government.” It’s hard not to feel like there’s some retaliatory action going on here. Moore is a Democrat who is anti-Trump and who has campaigned for LGBT rights and gun control. The Trump administration are deeply petty and would happily ban a book on that basis alone.

“I am truly saddened and never thought I would see this in a country where freedom of speech and expression is a constitutional right,” Moore concluded. “Thank you to @penamerica for bringing this to my attention.” PEN America is an anti-censorship nonprofit.

News of the book ban has been met with outcry… and a lot of people going to buy the book. (It may be banned in DOD schools but that doesn’t mean it can’t be purchased.) Orange Is the New Black actress Uzo Aduba commented on Moore’s post, “Just bought it for my daughter. Can’t wait to read it.” Others expressed fear about the rising tide of fascism in the USA. It seems a very cruel act to ban such a sweet, innocuous book. But as we have been reminded time and time again ever since Donald Trump took office, the cruelty is the point.