TAMPA, Fla. — A St. Petersburg theater company calls the Pinellas County School District’s recent decision to remove Pulitzer Prize winning author Toni Morrison’s novel “The Bluest Eye” from its shelves a mistake. In response, it opened a banned book library at its St. Pete College theater location.

​American Stage’s marketing director Avery Anderson came up with the idea last week and said in a matter of hours, the organization Keep St. Pete LIT signed on to curate a list of banned or challenged books to fill the library’s shelves. Local bookstore Tomblo added that list to its website, where those interested can make purchases to donate.

“We believe in powerful stories boldly told in whatever form that might be,” Anderson said. “On the stage, in poetry and in writing, because stories are how we connect as human beings.”

As reported by our partners at The Tampa Bay Times, the Pinellas County School District faced an outcry from dozens of students, parents and teachers at this week’s school board meeting.

“There is one important part that has been left out of the discussion, or certainly has not received enough attention and that is the actual laws that the district applied in making the decision,” responded Superintendent Kevin Hendrick. “We, like other districts, continue to seek clarity on these laws.”

The district has reviewed 94 books since this summer, pulling a total of 11 from school libraries and classrooms.

“As the superintendent mentioned during Tuesday’s school board meeting, the district will bring a new administrative process to the Board for discussion at an upcoming Workshop this spring that captures these ideals of what we believe in, gives parents the ultimate choice in the materials their students can access from our media centers and follows the law,” said district spokesperson Isabel Mascareñas.