For Stephana Ferrell, the director of research and insight at Florida Freedom to Read Project, it underscores a growing trend to redefine what is considered age appropriate, “especially regarding books that address ethnicities, marginalized communities, racism or our history of racism.”

“Books written for students grades K-5 are being pushed to middle school [libraries and] out of reach for the students they were intended for,” she said. The books aren’t being banned from the district, she argued, “but they’re banned for the students they were intended for.”

The challenges were “school-level only” and “impact one school,” district staff said in an email Monday.

In March, Daily Salinas, a parent of two students at at Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes, challenged The ABCs of Black History, Cuban Kids, Countries in the News Cuba, the poem The Hill We Climb, which was recited by poet Amanda Gorman at the Jan. 20, 2021, inauguration of President Joe Biden, and Love to Langston for what she said included references of critical race theory, “indirect hate messages,” gender ideology and indoctrination, according to records obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project and shared with the Miami Herald.

The banning of the inaugural poem by a National Youth Poet Laureate like Gorman is already garnering widespread attention on the absurdity and danger of Florida’s book ban laws, drawing focus to how a single extreme parent can ruin the educational experience for other children. Gorman’s response has already garnered over 5 million views on Twitter and 300,000 likes on Instagram.

The disproportionate impact of radical groups on educational curricula is also being exposed. Salinas, the parent who filed the complaint, is not just some concerned mother, as many might assume. According to an investigation by the group Miami Against Fascism, Salinas is a member of the extremist organization Moms for Liberty and has joined others from that group to disrupt school board meetings. She is also a supporter of the Proud Boys and has stood beside leader and convicted seditious conspirator Enrique Tarrio at local Florida protests. She is also allegedly a member of the Christian Nationalist group CCDF, and, according to her social media feed, a purveyor of antisemitic conspiracies online.