Actor Julianne Moore said she was "stunned" after learning that Republican President Donald Trump's administration banned her 2007 children's book, Freckleface Strawberry, from schools around the world that fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA).
The Academy Award-winning actor shared a screenshot taken from the literary and free expression group PEN America showing the cover of her book with the words "Banned by the Department of Defense" scrawled underneath the image.
The New York Times Best Seller is described as a "simple, sweet, and semi-autobiographical narrative" about a girl who wishes to be rid of her freckles but learns to accept them.
The 2007 book, which eventually launched a series of follow-ups, was inspired by her son starting to reject aspects of his appearance, which reminded Moore of her childhood.
"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," wrote Moore in the post caption.
She continued:
"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."
According to the DoDEA's website, the federal school system is "responsible for planning, directing, coordinating, and managing prekindergarten through 12th grade educational programs on behalf of the Department of Defense (DoD)."
The globally positioned DoDEA operates 161 accredited schools in 9 districts located in 11 foreign countries, 7 states, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
Moore said she was "particularly stunned" since she was "a proud graduate" of Frankfurt American High School, which is a DoD school 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."
"And I can’t help but wonder what is so controversial about this picture book that cause it to be banned by the US Government."
"I am truly saddened and never thought I would see this in a country where freedom of speech and expression is a constitutional right."
She concluded the post by giving a shout-out to PEN America for alerting her to the disappointing news.
Social media users were gobsmacked by the news and couldn't process the reality of the situation.
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Parents of children studying in Pentagon schools serving U.S. military families received a memo stating that the DoD was examining books that "potentially related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics.”
The memo obtained by The Guardian also noted that a “small number of items” were identified and held for “further review.”
DoDEA spokesperson Will Griffin issued a statement explaining:
“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."
“During this period, access will be limited to professional staff.”
While the DoDEA has not confirmed whether or not Freckleface Strawberry was pulled from shelves," Griffin told CNN that any books haven't yet officially been banned.
“At this time, we are conducting a review," said Griffin, adding, "No materials have been permanently removed from our school libraries pending completion of the review."
Officials conducting a "compliance review” of the library books comes as Trump cracks down on DEI and other anti-discriminatory initiatives put in place by the previous Democratic administration.
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