A graphic novel based on the diary of Anne Frank is removed from a Florida high school

By Mike Schneider -

A Florida high school has withdrawn a graphic novel based on Anne Frank's diary after being questioned by the leader of a conservative group who claimed the work minimized the Holocaust.

Anne Frank's Diary: Graphic Adaptation

was removed from the Vero Beach High School library after objection from an Indian River County Moms for Liberty leader.

The school principal agreed and the book was withdrawn in March.

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The work narrates how the protagonist walks through a park and, enchanted by the statues of naked women, proposes to a friend to show their breasts to each other.

Per school district policy, the principal rules on a challenged book.

If someone disagrees with the decision to keep it on the shelves, they can appeal to a district committee.

Cristen Maddux, a spokeswoman for the Indian River County School District, stated Monday that the graphic novel had already been withdrawn twice.

The city of Vero Beach, where the school is located, is located 105 miles (169 kilometers) southeast of Orlando.

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Other books about Anne Frank and copies of the diary she wrote recounting how she hid from the Nazis with her family and other Jews in German-occupied Amsterdam remain in school system libraries.

The Diary of the Jewish Teenager was published in 1947, several years after her death in a concentration camp, and has become a classic read by tens of millions of people around the world.

By law, Florida schools are required to teach about the Holocaust, and that hasn't changed, Maddux said.

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“The comments that the Holocaust was removed from the curriculum and that students don't know what happened, that's not true,” he said.

"It's just a questioned book that the director withdrew."

In addition to the Anne Frank graphic novel, Moms for Liberty was opposed by three books in the

series , which were also withdrawn.

Jennifer Pippin, leader of the group, claimed that the graphic novel violated state standards for accurately teaching the Holocaust.

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"Even her version included editing the sex entries," Pippin argued, referring to the original diary.

“Even the publisher of the book calls it a 'biography', that is, it writes its own interpretive twist.

It is not the actual work.

The quote, but it is not the complete diary.

He chooses to offer a different vision of the subject.”

Published in 2018, the graphic novel was adapted from Anne Frank's diary by Israeli film director, screenwriter and composer Ari Folman, with illustrations by David Polonsky.

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The book's publisher, Pantheon Graphic Library, forwarded a request for comment to Yves Kugelmann, a board member of a foundation set up by Anne Frank's father Otto to distribute his daughter's diary and handle other matters.

Kugelmann did not immediately respond to questions.

The American Library Association reported in March that

, the highest number since the association began keeping records more than 20 years ago.