The introduction of the book ‘Morris Micklewhite and the Orange Dress’, translated and published by Güldünya Publications in 2018, is as follows:
“Christine Baldacchino tells the courage and creativity of being different. The story, which received the Stonewall Children and Young Adult Literature Honor Award and is accompanied by the warm illustrations of Isabelle Malenfant, focuses on Morris, who is teased by his classmates for being different. Morris, who has a mother named Moria and a cat named Moo, loves to dress up!”
After the book was put up for sale in the Istanbul Bookstore which belongs to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, it was targeted with homophobic hate speech by publications such as Yeni Akit and Milat Newspaper.
Board for the Protection of Minors from Obscene Publications of the Ministry of Family and Social Services, with its decision dated September 18, 2023, published in the Official Gazette declared the book obscene and not suitable for minors. The Board, which examined the book ex officio, decided that “some of the articles in the book have a harmful effect on those under the age of 18.”
