Children's Book Flagged , by Alabama Library Because, Author's Name is 'Gay'.
NBC reports that Alabama's public library system flagged a children's book as being "potentially explicit" due to the author's last name being "Gay.".
'Read Me a Story, Stella,' a picture book by Marie-Louise Gay, is about a girl teaching her younger brother how to read.
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The book is the seventh volume in a series that has sold over 2 million copies and has been translated into ten languages.
The Alabama Political Reporter first revealed that the book was added to a list of literature to be reviewed and potentially removed from the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library system.
According to the library system's public relations director, the list was never intended "as a directive to move or remove materials." .
The inclusion of the author’s name was the result of a keyword search to identify potentially targeted subject areas.
, Jay Hixon, Huntsville-Madison County Public Library system’s public relations director, via NBC.
The review encompassed a number of different factors.
The list was just a preliminary step to identify materials that might be challenged, Jay Hixon, Huntsville-Madison County Public Library system’s public relations director, via NBC.
According to local news outlets, a majority of the 246 books on the list included keywords such as "lesbian," "gay," "gender" and "identity.".
On September 28, the library system said in a news release that the book review had been stopped and all of the books would be returned to their original locations.
Last month, a report by the American Library Association found that book challenges have reached a historic high, increasing by 20% since last year.
