From the Washington Post:
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — When the managers of a small bookstore in this Appalachian mountain town received a call from a distributor wondering if they could take in 22,000 books rejected by a Florida school district, it felt like a colossal ask.
Firestorm Books usually stocks fewer than 8,000 books — titles that range from historical fiction to solarpunk. The self-described queer feminist collective wasn’t sure where they’d put them, and their customers typically weren’t looking for picture books.
“We were like, this feels like a bigger thing than we can manage,” said Libertie Valance, a managing member of the group that runs the store. “But I think even in that conversation, there was an acknowledgment that we were going to do it.”
And so began the journey to bring eight tons of books — most of them banned under Florida’s state laws restricting classroom discussion on race, gender identity and sexual orientation — from Duval County Public Schools in Jacksonville to left-leaning Asheville.