A children’s book celebrating infants is the latest literary work to be banned from schools in one Florida school district.
According to the Washington Post, the Walton County School District banned ‘Everywhere Babies,’ –a rhyming picture book with illustrations of sleeping and playing babies–from their libraries.
The book was one of 58 that were removed from libraries in Walton County because officials consider them to be inappropriate for children.
“It was necessary in this moment for me to make that decision and I did it for just a welfare of all involved, including our constituents, our teachers, and our students. I’ll continue to do those things and perhaps add some,” Walton County School Superintendent Russell Hughes told WJGH TV.
Susan Meyers, the book’s author, told The Washington Post that she was inspired to write the book five months after the birth of her first grandson. The book has been on several ‘Best Book’ list including a lists of LGBTQ-friendly children’s books.
Meyers believes this was why county officials made the decision to ban the book. She also speculates that the book was banned because there is an image of one man embracing another in it.
“I think there’s one illustration they don’t like, where it’s two men. But how do they see this, that any time a man puts his arm on another man’s shoulder, it means they’re gay? It doesn’t seem obvious to me,” she said.
“It seems odd to me that this is banned, because it’s a preschool book, a family book,” Meyers added. “You read it to kids when they’re 2. But maybe they think we’re trying to indoctrinate kids from the cradle on. I don’t know. I mean, you can’t figure out this mindset.”
Last week, the Florida Department of Education rejected 54 math textbooks submitted for inclusion in the state’s curriculum for the 2022-2023 school year over alleged indoctrination of students. The FDOE said the books “included references to Critical Race Theory (CRT), inclusions of Common Core, and the unsolicited addition of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in mathematics.”
