And then the school district is just overruling their own people. “And on top of that,” Novack continued, “when these titles do get flagged, what we’re seeing is that there is a committee that it’s supposed to go to that’s filled with actual members of the community, experts, etc., and they’re saying these are educationally appropriate. “These are being removed because there are depictions of characters, there are depictions of racial identity, and that’s the reasons why they are being flagged by individuals for removal. “For many instances there’s not even the attempt at a pretext,” Dan Novack, Penguin Random House vice president and associate general counsel, told The Times. In DeSantis they trust: Conservative parental groups and powerful politicians clash with parents, teachers and librarians who oppose the banning of books.

World & Nation Two moms are at the center of the fight against book banning in America: ‘It’s exhausting’ Numerous other books, including “ The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini and “ Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut, were targeted for removal pending a review process that the suit claims is essentially bogus.

Penguin Random House has had two of its books, “ The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison and “Push” by Sapphire, removed from some Escambia School District libraries.

They also allege a 14th Amendment violation citing the Equal Protection Clause, because the challenged books are disproportionately titles by nonwhite and/or LGBTQ+ authors and explore diverse stories and themes. Joined by free-speech advocacy group PEN America and several authors and parents, Penguin Random House filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the Escambia County School District and its school board, alleging they were violating the 1st Amendment by scrubbing library shelves of books based on a political or ideological disagreement with the ideas the books express. A lawyer for the publishing conglomerate Penguin Random House told The Times it was suing to stop “one of the most unsubtle attempts at viewpoint discrimination” ever seen. This week, a book publisher - the largest in the world - entered the fray. As school library book bans proliferate across the country, the resistance is becoming more organized.

Irresistible alter