CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Banned Bookmobile Tour arrived in South Florida Sunday morning with a library of banned literature.
Several of the books on the tour are -- as the name would imply -- either banned or currently subjected to book ban legislation.
The tour comes as the Sunshine State remains one of states with the highest amount of banned books.
As the war-on-books continues, Floridians gathered at Books and Books in Coral Gables.
According to PEN America, more than 3,300 books were banned during the 2022-23 school year, with Florida banning more than 1,400.
“We think people have to understand what you may not want to read is fine, but we should not impose our ideas and ideologies on other people,” said United Teachers of Dade President Karla Hernández-Mats.
It’s an issue that Hernández-Mats says is concerning.
“We believe that we should have access to knowledge so that we can have compassion and understanding for our communities,” she said.
Coral Gables marks the latest stop for the Banned Bookmobile Tour by the American Federation of Teachers and The New Republic.
More than 1,000 books were given away with 10 free books given away to Miami-Dade educators.
“The problem with trying to ban a book is it’s going to kill that drive in them to want to be able to read books,” parent Lissette Fernandez said.
Over 40 percent of all banned books in U.S. schools are in Florida school districts, according to PEN America.