Problem: Florida has joined Iowa and several other states in passing laws that streamline the book banning process for materials schools and libraries make available to children that some adults consider to have sexual or racial content. Among the books included on lists of recently banned books in schools for the 2023-24 school year are dozens of classics as well as newer titles. Groups are now moving to try to stop bans through the court system. In Arkansas, where a new law threatened prison time for librarians who provide children access to what the measure calls "harmful" books or materials online, a federal judge last month blocked enforcement of part of the law. "When you ban that many books that deal with historic events, with race relations, with gender identity, with developmental challenges that students face, that really does run counter to libraries' mission," said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association' s Office for Intellectual Freedom. "Censorship is diametrically opposed to that mission." Groups have been targeting books en masse that they say have LGBTQ+ content as well as books with racial themes. Lawmakers in at least a half-dozen states have new bills that would limit such books from being made available to students. Need Assignment Help?