"I See Myself and the Books Give Me Hope"

Amanda Gorman, the eloquent 25-year-old Harvard graduate who was our nation's first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate, recently became one of the latest authors to have her work banned after a Florida parent petitioned to have The Hill We Climb, the book version of the poem Gorman read at President Biden's inauguration, removed from the elementary school section of a Miami-Dade County public school library

- Marian Wright Edelman

The parent, who incorrectly attributed the book to Oprah Winfrey, said in her complaint: the poem "is not educational and have indirectly [sic] hate messages." The parent also wrote she believed its function was to "cause confusion and indoctrinate students." In response, Gorman posted a statement saying she was "gutted" by the book's removal: "Book bans aren't new. But they have been on the rise according to the [American Library Association], 40% more books were challenged in 2022 compared to 2021. What's more, often all it takes to remove these works from our libraries and schools is a single objection. And let's be clear: most of the forbidden works are by authors who have struggled for generations to get on bookshelves. The majority of these censored works are by queer and non-white voices." She continued: "I wrote The Hill We Climb so that all young people could see themselves in a historical moment. Ever since I've received countless letters and videos from children inspired by The Hill We Climb to write their own poems.