U.S. school fires teacher for assigning Anne Frank graphic novel to class
A middle school in Beaumont, Texas, has dismissed a teacher for assigning an eighth-grade class to read the graphic novel based on Anne Frank’s diary, according to local media. According to the school, the school district had not approved the book.
The graphic novel, titled Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaption, and released in 2018, is based on the unabridged version of the Jewish girl's famous diary. The unabridged version includes aspects of Frank’s puberty and sexual development, which her father withheld when he first published her diary.
According to The Washington Post, the unabridged version of Anne Frank’s Diary was removed from schools in Texas and Florida this year after complaints from parents about the book’s sexual content.
The teacher was fired on September 13, after an email to parents the day before said that the graphic novel was inappropriate and that the teacher would apologize. According to the Houston Chronicle, the teacher made students read parts of the book aloud, including parts that discussed male and female genitalia.
The graphic adaptation includes passages about Anne Frank discussing physical and sexual changes, including her feelings about having her period and a desire to explore her sexuality with her friend, Jacqueline van Maarsen.
“15-year-old Anne looked with amazement at the things she had written about sex and sexuality when she was 13 years old. Most of the references and passages on the subject were omitted from the rewritten version. In her diary, Anne wrote about her period several times, and these passages did not make it into Het Achterhuis either,” the Anne Frank House states on its website.
