Despite their recent review committee’s unanimous approval of the award-winning memoir “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” by Maia Kobabe, Maine’s Regional School Unit 56 school board decided in a 7-2 vote to pull it from their library shelves, according to a Maine Public Radio report.
To get the book to teenage students in the district who what to read it, the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance is raising funds to distribute it.
“This is really in our wheelhouse,” the group’s associate director, Taryn Bowe, told Maine Public. “It’s about books. It’s about expression. It’s about wanting to make sure that people value the diversity of stories that are out there, and they continue to be available.”
Reports Maine Public:
Gia Drew, the executive director of EqualityMaine, said that she’s happy to see the effort to provide books to students. But she said organizations shouldn’t have to resort to fund-raising to ensure students can read stories from a range of perspectives.
“We want to make sure there’s the full scope of what it means to be LGBTQ available on bookshelves,” Drew said. “And I think it is very worrisome that some school districts are taking the move to ban books.”
Bowe said the organization has raised about $2,500 so far, enough for more than 100 copies.
According to the American Library Association, “Gender Queer” was the most challenged graphic novel last year. Boards in Illinois, North Carolina and Florida considered banning the book from school libraries.
The school board chair for RSU 56 did not immediately return a request for comment.
Read the complete Maine Public story here.
Founded in 1975, the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance is a community organization that works to enrich the literary life and culture of Maine by supporting and promoting Maine’s writers, publishers and literary professionals.
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