NEW YORK (AP) — Three years ago, Erin Decker was a middle school librarian in Kissimmee, Florida, increasingly frustrated by the state's book bans and worried that she couldn't make a difference remaining in her job. So, she and fellow librarian Tania Galiñanes thought of a way to fight back. “We just put our heads together and decided a bookstore would help make sure students could get to books that were being pulled from shelves,” says Decker, whose White Rose Books & More opened last fall in Kissimmee.
Independent booksellers continued to expand in 2023, with more than 200 new stores opening