North Carolina’s Firestorm Books Offers Free Books Banned in Florida
Firestorm Books, a collectively-owned radical bookstore in Asheville, N.C., has acquired 22,500 copies of 46 children's books that were banned from the Duval County Public School system in Florida. Under a campaign named "Banned Books Back!," the bookstore plans to distribute these books to children and families across the United States, starting with Florida. Last year, Duval County school administrators ordered the removal of numerous titles focused on gender issues, racism, colonialism and more. Half of the titles that were pulled focused on LGBTQIA+ topics. "When we were told that these books were at risk of being destroyed, we knew we had to act," Esmé Joy, co-owner of Firestorm Books, said.