The work of author and poet Amanda Gorman is getting a boost in sales after a Florida book ban.
Following a ban of her poem The Hill We Climb, sales for it and her books Call Us What We Carry and Change Sings have skyrocketed.
It’s a show of support for the 25-year-old, who said she was “gutted” after hearing that her inaugural poem—recited during President Biden’s 2021 swearing-in ceremony—was placed on restricted access at a K-8 school in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
The incident has denied otherwise easy access to The Hill We Climb. It’s following a complaint from one parent who said that the poem, along with three other books (not by Gorman), were “inappropriate for students” and should be removed. The formal written protest, in which the parent confuses Gorman with Oprah, noted that The Hill We Climb “is not educational and have [sic] indirectly h@te messages.”
The titles, despite being written for elementary-aged students, are now only available in the middle school section of the library. Younger students would have to make a special request to see the items.
Gorman shared her response on social media. “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.”
The school district maintains that the texts are technically still available, just transferred to another section of the library. Gorman replied to that line of thinking. “A school book ban is any action taken against a book that leaves access to a book restricted or diminished,” she tweeted. “This decision of moving my book from its original place, taken after one parent complained, diminishes the access elementary schoolers would have previously had to my poem.”
Gorman’s poems and book are available on Bookshop.org.
Poet Amanda Gorman’s prose The Hill We Climb was banned from elementary-aged children following a complaint from one parent who said that the poem was “inappropriate for students” and should be removed.
The school district maintains that the texts are technically still available, just transferred to another section of the library. Gorman replied to that line of thinking.
