Taylor Trautwein sat in the crowded auditorium where the Pinellas County School Board met Tuesday, reading Toni Morrison’s novel “The Bluest Eye.”

The Palm Harbor University High junior said she was reading the book, which district officials banned from her AP literature course and all high school libraries, in part to demonstrate her opposition to censorship.

“When you can’t read about things, you can’t learn them,” said Trautwein, who came to the board meeting with dozens of other students, teachers, parents and other residents who opposed the book ban announced in January.

Speaker by speaker, they argued that the district should not have removed the book based on the complaint of one parent without discussing the implications publicly. They argued that the book is literature, and that it plays an important role in understanding uncomfortable truths.