ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
The Nassau County School Board in northeastern Florida has returned dozens of books to school library shelves. It's a result of a settlement the district reached in a First Amendment lawsuit. Florida's been a hot spot for book censorship, and the book at the center of this case is about a gay penguin couple. Andrew Limbong is here to tell us more. He's from our culture desk - good to have you in the studio, Andrew.
ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: Hey, Ari.
SHAPIRO: What's the book, and how did it end up at the center of this case?
LIMBONG: All right. So the book at the center is called "And Tango Makes Three." I think some listeners might be familiar with it. It's pretty popular. It's a picture book that came out in 2005 based on the true story of these two male penguins in Central Park Zoo, you know, who end up having a kid together named Tango. It this extremely sweet family story about these penguins, right?
Jump ahead to 2023. Florida passes House Bill 1069, which makes it easier for parents to challenge books in public school libraries that may contain sexual conduct. And in fall of '23, the Nassau County School Board removed "Tango" and more than 30 other books. Now, the two writers of "And Tango Makes Three," Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, along with a few Nassau County school students, they all filed a lawsuit against the school board early this year, saying that removing these books were a violation of the First Amendment.
SHAPIRO: And the school district has now settled, so what does that mean?
LIMBONG: Yeah, the settlement came in late last week. So now "Tango" and the other books are back on school shelves. And also - so interestingly, as part of this settlement, the school board had to agree that "And Tango Makes Three" contains no obscene material and is appropriate for students of all ages and has pedagogical value.
Lauren Zimmerman, one of the lawyers representing the "Tango" authors, put out a statement calling the settlement a, quote, "watershed moment in the ongoing battle against book censorship" in the United States. I reached out to the Nassau County School Board and their lawyers and haven't heard back yet.
SHAPIRO: And what are some of the other titles that are going back on school shelves now?
LIMBONG: It's a pretty long list. Some of them touch on queer issues. You've got "If I Was Your Girl" by Meredith Russo and "Beyond Magenta," which is this nonfiction book about transgender teenagers. You've also got some books you might consider, you know, standard reading for high school kids. I'm talking, like, "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison or "Water For Elephants" by Sara Gruen.
SHAPIRO: And this is just one county, but there are other similar lawsuits playing out in other parts of Florida, right?
LIMBONG: Yeah. The "Tango" authors have lawsuits against Escambia County and Lake County for removing their book from school library shelves. But I just want to zoom out here for a second. Earlier this year, the big deal publishers - I'm talking, like, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, all those guys - they got together with a number of high-profile authors and sued the State of Florida Board of Education over its policies regarding removing books from schools.
Now, it'll be interesting to see if this recent settlement has any impact on those other cases. I chatted with Cindy Hohl recently. She's the president of the American Library Association. And she says she hopes the settlement sends a signal to, like, all authors whose books have been pulled from library shelves.
CINDY HOHL: I hope it provides encouragement to those authors who are feeling that they're being targeted unfairly. I hope that it provides them with that ability to continue crafting their art and sharing those stories.
LIMBONG: Now, Florida is often at the top of this list when we do, you know, stories running up all the books that have been pulled from school shelf - from library shelves. But it's far from the only state where this is occurring, and I think it's fair to say that this has become kind of, like, a culture war issue. And, you know, it's an election year, so focus on these stories will probably intensify in the next coming months.
SHAPIRO: That's NPR's Andrew Limbong, host of NPR's Book Of The Day podcast - good to talk to you. Thanks.
LIMBONG: Thanks, Ari. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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