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In a subsequent letter, the complaint alleges, Baggett “explicitly linked her effort to get Chbosky's book removed to 'the national removal efforts underway” and cited a “parental book rating” from the right wing site Book Looks as evidence the book was not suitable for minors. In the letter, she argued that the book and others were the kind of “pornographic material” barred by state law. Instead, the book came to her attention “because it was one of the books frequently targeted as part of the nationwide book-removal movement.”Īfter a panel voted to keep the book in the library, Baggett appealed with a letter to the School District’s Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, and copying, among others, governor Ron DeSantis. The well-written document details how Baggett started by filling out a book challenge form for Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which, the complaint alleges, Baggett would later admit that she had not even heard of prior to her efforts to ban it. The complaint lays out how a single language arts teacher at a local high school, Vicki Baggett, kicked off what would become “a widespread-and largely successful-campaign to restrict access to books” throughout the Escambia County School District. And the facts laid out in the 58-page complaint show what's happening in Escambia County as well as the playbook being run in many communities across the nation. The lawsuit is a major, and long-awaited, response to a disturbing, politically-motivated surge in book bans and legislation now in its third year. For many young people, if a book isn’t in their school library, it might as well not exist.” “As a former public high school English teacher, I know firsthand how important libraries are.

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“Young readers in Escambia schools and across the nation deserve a complete and honest education, one that provides them with full access in libraries to a wide range of literature that reflects varied viewpoints and that explores the diversity of human experiences,” said Pérez, author of Out of Darkness, one of the books targeted for removal by the school district. Johnson, and Ashley Hope Pérez, and children’s book author Kyle Lukoff. The authors involved in the suit include author and children’s book illustrator Sarah Brannen, YA authors David Levithan, George M.

We are proud to join forces with our longtime partner PEN America.”

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We stand by our authors, their books, and the teachers, librarians, and parents who champion free expression. 'Censorship, in the form of book bans like those enacted by Escambia County, are a direct threat to democracy and our Constitutional rights. 'Books have the capacity to change lives for the better, and students in particular deserve equitable access to a wide range of perspectives,' Malaviya said in a release announcing the suit. Nihar Malaviya, CEO of Penguin Random House, agreed. The law demands that the Escambia County School District put removed or restricted books back on library shelves where they belong.” She added that 'children in a democracy must not be taught that books are dangerous.' 'In a nation built on free speech, this cannot stand. “In Escambia County, state censors are spiriting books off shelves in a deliberate attempt to silence pluralism and diversity,' said PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel in a statement. In a release, PEN officials called the suit a 'first-of-its-kind challenge to unlawful censorship,' as it brings together concerned parents, authors, and a major publisher. All of these removals run afoul of the First Amendment, which is rightly disinterested in the cause du jour.' Tomorrow, it could be books about Christianity, the country’s founders, or war heroes. Today, Escambia County seeks to bar books critics view as too 'woke.' In the 1970s, schools sought to bar Slaughterhouse-Five and books edited by Langston Hughes. 'These restrictions and removals have disproportionately targeted books by or about people of color and/or LGBTQ people, and have prescribed an orthodoxy of opinion that violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments. 'In every decision to remove a book, the School District has sided with a challenger expressing openly discriminatory bases for challenge, overruling the recommendations of review committees at the school and district levels,' the complaint alleges. The suit seeks to have the district's actions declared unconstitutional and to have the banned books returned to library shelves.

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