Thread by @PENamerica

Attacking books as “pornography” has become a common tactic for book banners from Ron DeSantis to #Moms4Liberty.

Now a new version of the famous Holocaust diary is being called ‘Anne Frank pornography’ and getting banned from schools, writes @AndrewLapin. jta.org/2023/06/12/cul…

Published in 2017 with the endorsement of the Basel-based Anne Frank Foundation, the illustrated Anne Frank's Diary was "a bid to preserve interest in the Holocaust by future generations," reported
@JewishJournal.

jewishjournal.com/culture/224140… (2/x) #History #BannedBooks

Describing why he authored the book during a Q&A in Paris, writer Ari Folman, who was born to Holocaust survivors, said, “I’m worried we’re coming to an era where there won’t be Holocaust survivors on Earth, no living witnesses to tell the story." #History #BannedBooks (3/x)

"Proponents of removing the book from schools say the graphic adaptation is essentially an obscene version that distorts Frank’s legacy and aids in 'grooming' children, reports @AndrewLapin. (4/x) jpost.com/diaspora/antis… #BannedBooks #History

"Critics of the book say they are objecting to the small handful of passages in which Anne describes sexual matters... (even though) these passages are Anne’s own writing, and were part of her actual diary." (5/x) #BannedBooks #History

Florida Rep. Randy Fine called the adaptation an "Anne Frank pornography book" and "antisemitic."

One Florida school district told @JTAnews it had determined the book to be “a fictional novel,” “not the real diary of Anne Frank,” and filled with “inappropriate content.” (6/x)

Moms for Liberty cofounder Tiffany Justice, a former board member for the Florida district told JTA the book's removal "was a sign of the system working as it should: School administrators took a parent’s challenge seriously and came to a decision." (7/x)

Though truncated "the book is a straightforward... rendition of Anne’s original diary. All of the entries it reproduces are taken from her original text, and dialogue between the characters in the annex is based on Anne’s own recollections," notes @AndrewLapin. (8/x) #BannedBooks

As we noted in our #BannedInTheUSA report (4/23), politicians and organized activist groups are challenging books as "pornography" based on a definition that "does not remotely fit the well-established legal and colloquial definitions." pen.org/report/banned-… #BannedBooks (9/9)