An innocent children’s book in which an older sister teaches her little brother the joys of reading was nearly blacklisted by an Alabama library because of the name of its author, Quebecer Marie-Louise Guy.
The Huntsville-Madison County Public Library has placed “Read Me a Story, Stella” on a list of books that may be so sexually explicit that it could have been removed from children’s shelves, news website Al.com reported Sunday.
Library Director Cindy Hewitt admitted that the book was included on the list only because of the “gay” tag.
“Obviously we’re not going to touch on this book for obvious reasons,” Hewitt told Al.com.
The library has compiled a list of 233 works to review, possibly move to other departments, or even remove from shelves. However, criticism of the fact that the list targeted the LGBTQ+ community led to the process being suspended.
Cindy Hewitt confirmed to Al.com that her team did not try to target the LGBTQ+ community at all. But the media site indicated that 91% of the titles on the list included at least one word such as “lesbian,” “gay,” “transgender,” “gender identity,” or “gender non-conformity.”
