With book bans in elementary schools across the Florida and in Miami-Dade, a local book seller and others in the community came together to host a banned book giveaway.
The longtime retailer Books & Books hosted a giveaway of some 1,200 titles at the Coral Gables Congregational Church, Tuesday evening.
The evening featured readings from teachers, students and members of the literary community.
The books that were pulled from local shelves, included poet Amanda Gorman’s “The Hill We Climb,” which she read at President Biden’s inauguration.
“Poetry is a really broad space, and I think we have a right to read every kind of literature that we can,” said poet laureate, Richard Blanco. “That’s absolutely necessary.”
The giveaway comes a week after five titles were removed from the elementary section of the library at the Bob Graham K-8 Education Center in Miami Lakes because of the complaints of one parent.
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