Posted on May 25, 2023 at 7:48 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
A single complaint has led to restrictions on who can read Amanda Gorman's The Hill We Climb at a Florida K-8 school.
NPR is among the media outlets reporting that a Miami-Dade County school has put the poem on a library shelf from which only middle-schoolers can check out books.
The complaint, which you can actually view on NPR, misidentifies the author as Oprah Winfrey; does not answer the question "to what do you object?"; claims it is not educational, has indirect hate messages, and indoctrinates students (without specifying further).
It asked that the book be removed entirely; a week after the complaint was filed, the school's review committee decided to restrict access.
Gorman posted a statement online describing herself as "gutted."
"I wrote The Hill We Climb so that all young people could see themselves in a historical moment," she wrote.
"Ever since, I've received countless letters and videos from children inspired by The Hill We Climb to write their own poems."
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Categories: Today in Books