Best-selling children’s author Élise Gravel regrets that her book Pink, Blue and You!, that deals with sexual orientation and gender identity be banned in some schools in the United States. The Quebecer says that she has received several messages in recent weeks from American teachers and librarians who would have liked to be able to have their students read this book in order to make them aware of the issues of sexual diversity, but who are prevented from doing so.
“I expected my book to be banned in some conservative states and some school boards. But my concern goes beyond my book. It’s the movement that’s behind all this that worries me, ”says Élise Gravel, who laughed at the banishment of her book on social networks on Monday.
Pink, Blue and You!, published last year, is not the first book by Élise Gravel that poses a problem in the United States. In 2018, no American publisher wanted to The smelly tribe, because it was feared that the drawings of naked children would be disturbing, even if there was nothing sexual about nudity here. In Pink, Blue and You! (Pink, blue and you! in Quebec), we can also see a drawing, very rudimentary, of a little boy and a little girl in their simplest form. Again, for educational purposes, while the book is intended for children in early childhood.
Ron the moral
But that’s not the only shocking thing in this case. According to the author and illustrator, it is also the themes addressed that prevent the book from being distributed at present in certain schools south of the border. Pink, Blue and You! particularly challenges gender stereotypes. We can also read there that we can love whoever we want, or that it is possible to identify with a gender other than the one assigned to us at birth.
Florida, for example, passed the “Don’t Say Gay” law last year, as its opponents call it. This one discourages teachers from addressing any topic related to LGBTQ+ issues from K-3e year. children’s books, such as Pink, Blue and You!, are thus excluded from the school curriculum.
The state’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who many see in the White House, has said he wants to fight against the indoctrination of children, while all the questions related to gender and identity take more and more place in the public debate in the United States. This speech horrifies Élise Gravel. “I find it terrifying. There are people who are scandalized by the cancel culture. But here it is for real. It’s downright censorship, “she protests, in an interview at the To have to.
She is happy not to face such a backlash here in Quebec. To his knowledge, no school has restricted access to his book. But the new law in Florida makes him say that nothing is certain. “We are not immune. Moreover, when the book was launched in Quebec, hateful comments rained down on my social networks. I had to hire a moderator. There are also homophobes and anti-trans people here, ”she laments.
Not political
Élise Gravel has got into the habit of tackling head-on in her children’s books certain questions that are debating in society. In Pink, blue and you!, written in collaboration with Mykaell Blais, she defends, among other things, the use of the neutral pronoun “iel” for children who feel neither girl nor boy. But even if she assumes her progressive convictions, she flatly denies doing politics, or worse, propaganda.
“To say that gay people exist. To say that there are homoparental families. That boys are allowed to play with dolls. If that’s political, it’s going badly! There is a movement trying to make us believe it is. But it’s not political. I never tried to write a political book,” says Élise Gravel.