Florida’s Department of State tossed out the entire slate of books recommended by the civil-rights Grove Museum for the first six months of its 2024 monthly storytime program for young children, including books on voting rights and Black history.
Originally submitted in October, the books were deemed not appropriate for the time of year they were being offered, they were not age-appropriate or not on the state Department of Education’s pre-approved reading list.
Among the books rejected was “VOTE!” by Eileen Christelow, scheduled for this month. The book was on the state’s pre-approved list and rated for first- through fourth-graders.
“You’re joking,” Christelow said from her home in Vermont. “I’m just speechless. I don’t know what to say.”…
Her brightly illustrated picture book, published in 2008, is the story of a Black woman, Chris Smith, running for town mayor against a white man.
It includes passages about the long history of getting all people to vote regardless of sex and skin color. “When this country started, only white men who owned property could vote,” the book says.
It also said that since the Constitution didn’t spell out who could vote, it left it to the states to determine who could vote. “That was a problem. The states made unfair rules about who could vote.”
Christelow said she was evenhanded, depicting men and women of all colors who couldn’t vote.
“The book has nothing to do with race,” she said, and choosing a Black woman as her main character was arbitrary….