PEN America, Penguin Random House sue over banned books in Florida school district
PEN America and Penguin Random House filed a lawsuit Wednesday targeting a Florida school district for removing certain books from the shelves of school libraries. PEN America, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting free expression, and Penguin Random House, one of the country's largest book publishers, filed a lawsuit Wednesday targeting a Florida school district for removing certain books from the shelves of public school libraries. Authors and parents of children affected by the book bans in the Escambia County School District have also joined the federal lawsuit, which is asking for books to be returned to school libraries. The lawsuit argues that the school board’s removal and restriction of books that discuss racism and have LGBTQ themes violates the First Amendment. Several authors whose books have been impacted by book bans across the country, including David Levithan, George M. Johnson and Ashley Hope Pérez, are backing the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges, in every decision to r