A Texas parent has called for a children’s biography of former first lady Michelle Obama to be pulled from school libraries because they viewed it as unfair to former President Donald Trump.
The parent took issue with a book titled “Michelle Obama: Political Icon” by Heather E. Schwartz, saying that it “unfairly” depicted Trump “as a bully,” according to NBC News.
The parent in Katy, Texas, said the book about Michelle Obama gave the impression that “if you sound like a white girl you should be ashamed of yourself.”
The request came as books depicting race, sexuality, and gender have faced heightened scrutiny from conservatives in the United States of America, with many demanding certain titles be pulled from school libraries.
On Wednesday, Feb 2, NBC News published a list of 50 books that parents in Texas have asked schools to remove from their libraries.
Back in December 2021, the Katy Independent School District began pulling books from the shelves after parents complained about their vulgarity, the Houston Chronicle reported.
In a statement to Insider, Schwartz, the author of Michelle Obama’s biography, said she was “shocked” that someone wanted to ban her book because it “is a nonfiction book that doesn’t strike me as at all controversial.”
Maria Corrales DiPetta, a spokesperson for the Katy Independent School District, told Insider the district reviewed the book after the complaint and determined it would not be removed. Any book that is challenged is reviewed by the district, even if only one parent submits a complaint, she said.
Schwartz, the author of the Obama biography, said: “As an author, a reader, and a parent, I’m against book banning on principle,.
“There couldn’t be a safer way for kids to learn about difficult topics, gain new perspectives, and explore the world and their place in it than by reading words on a page.”