The poet Amanda Gorman made a big success when she read the poem "The hill we climb" when Joe Biden was sworn in as president. Now she is once again in the spotlight after her poem was removed from the part of the school library that children under the age of twelve have access to at a school in Florida.
The poem was one of several works banned for the younger children at the school after a parent complained that they referenced critical race theory and contained "indirect hate messages," gender ideology and indoctrination, writes the Miami Herald.
If a child under the age of twelve wants to read the book, they must ask permission from a media specialist and be able to prove that they are reading at the high school level, writes The Washington Post.
Number one on bestseller list
Amanda Gorman commented on the incident in a post on Twitter:
"The majority of the works censored are by queer and non-white voices. I wrote 'The hill we climb' so that all young people could see themselves in a historic moment."
She also writes that since she wrote "The hill we climb", she has received lots of letters and videos from children who have been inspired to write poetry themselves.
"Depriving children of the opportunity to find their own voices in literature is a violation of their right to freedom of thought and expression."
After the Florida book ban, a hardcover edition of Gorman's poem, "The Hill We Climb," is now number one on Amazon's poetry list and her poetry collection "Call us what we carry" is in second place.