What is 'Read Me a Story, Stella' by Marie-Louise Gay about? Alabama flags children's book as explicit over author's last name

Marie-Louise Gay’s children’s book, Read Me a Story, Stella, has been flagged by an Alabama public library system due to the author’s last name, “Gay.” The book was included in the list of “potentially s*xually explicit” books. As per AL, the book was about to be removed from the children’s section of the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library System when the staffers caught the error.

The Huntsville-Madison County Public Library System executive director, Cindy Hewitt, said that Marie-Louise Gay’s book was “incorrectly placed” in the list because of the word “Gay.” Hence, Hewitt said that they were not “not going to touch that book for any reason.” She further mentioned how the staff had segregated many books on the basis of many keywords like “gender, s*x, dating,” etc.

Children’s book Read Me a Story, Stella, flagged by an Alabama public library system due to the last name of the author (Image via Amazon)

The book was “mistakenly censored” and was removed from the list as soon as the error was caught. Marie-Louise Gay’s publicist at Groundwood Books, Kirsten Brassard, spoke up about the fiasco.

“Although it is obviously laughable that our picture book shows up on their list of censored books simply because the author’s last name is Gay, the ridiculousness of that fact should not detract from the seriousness of the situation,” Brassard said.

Read Me a Story, Stella by Marie-Louise Gay is a kids’ picture book about a girl, Stella, and her little brother, Sam. Having 32 pages, the author calls it a “perfect summer’s day book.” Stella is a girl who loves to read and share information and knowledge with her younger brother. On the other hand, Sam is a curious boy with a mind full of questions.

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Read Me a Story, Stella by Marie-Louise Gay is for kids from 2 to 5 years old

Read Me a Story, Stella was flagged by an Alabama public library system due to the last name of the author (Image via X)

Read Me a Story, Stella is a picture book for kids who are in the age group of 2 to 5 years. While Stella is full of knowledge, Sam loves to ask questions about kites, clouds, dogs, and even caterpillars. The book retails for $16.95 and is available online on Amazon, eBay, and other e-commerce websites, apart from bookstores.

Speaking about how Marie-Louise Gay’s book became one of the 233 titles to be reviewed and removed, Brassard said that censorship should not mean that one book or title should be removed. Instead, she said, it means that parents and kids should be warned that “certain ideas or even certain people are not worthy of discussion or acknowledgment or consideration.”

Furthermore, the library informed how the process was halted as many other books were also inappropriately added to the list. Huntsville-Madison County Public Library said:

“We understand and appreciate our community and the needs of our collection to reflect our community. We were never eliminating any book. We were just looking at it as a whole.”

At the moment, Marie-Louise Gay has not spoken up on the fiasco, but the library has removed the book from the list of inappropriate books for kids. As the incident made headlines, many social media users reacted by bashing the library staff for the confusion, as they had put the book on the “censored” list only because the author’s last name was “Gay.”