These books were going to be burned. Now they’re being given away to Florida kids

Florida Republicans’ book bans have resulted in thousands of books being yanked from school libraries statewide. The Duval County Public Schools system alone pulled more than 22,000 titles from circulation.

Over half of those books centered around LGBTQ+ history or characters and a contractor was hired to dispose of them. Instead of burning the books, they donated them to a radical anarchist bookstore that is going to redistribute them to any kids in Florida who ask for them.

Related: Book banners came for this Colorado town. They didn’t anticipate resistance.

LGBTQ+ titles topped the number of book bans in the past year, but a growing number of grassroots organizations are rewriting the story.

Firestorm Books in Asheville, North Carolina, was offered the books after Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ (R) radical agenda went into effect in the Sunshine State. But instead of letting the sun go down on the titles, the store has announced plans to ship them to Florida youth for free.

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The Banned Books Back project will redistribute 22,500 titles to kids or parents who fill out an encrypted online form. They can choose picture books (grades 4-8) or chapter books (grades 8-12). Each shipment will include five or six books, stickers, and zines.

While the project is only currently welcoming Florida youth, they hope to expand to other states. The store is trying to raise $30,000 to help them cover the cost of shipping all the books to young readers.

“We understand book bans as a symptom of authoritarian power, so it isn’t effective to focus solely on access to individual titles without addressing the underlying power relations,” staff told Autostraddle. “Yes, we want kids in Florida to have these 22,500 books, but we also want to live in a world where there aren’t powerful adults imposing their worldviews through bans, punishment, and policing.”

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