A children’s book about baseball legend Roberto Clemente will return to classroom shelves in a Florida school district after being pulled for review, NBC News reports.
Duval County Public Schools gave the OK to Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates, written by Jonah Winter and illustrated by Raúl Colón, two weeks after it was removed. The 2005 book, which a critic for Kirkus praised as a “well-constructed introduction to a compassionate, dignified, multi-talented sports hero,” explored the racism that Clemente, who was Puerto Rican and had Black ancestry, faced during his career as a baseball player.
The initial removal of the book is part of a wave of book challenges and bans in the state that resulted from three new laws that require books intended for classroom use to be vetted and approved by media specialists. Earlier this week, another Florida school board voted to ban three children’s books with LGBTQ+ themes from its schools.
The removal of the Clemente book drew national headlines, and its author condemned the decision, saying, “Children’s books generally right now, it’s a political football, and it’s being used by people in this county in Florida to score political points, and it has nothing to do with children I think, ultimately.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, also spoke out against the removal of the Clemente book, claiming it was a stunt.
“They’re manufacturing that to try to create a narrative,” he said. “First of all, I don't think parents are challenging that. I think they’re doing it unilaterally to try to create an issue, but that can be resolved in about two minutes.”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
