Fort Myers, FL. — Nearly twenty children gathered Saturday at their local library for story time hosted by a mother of two, who volunteered to organize a “See You at the Library” event sponsored by Brave Books and its Christian author Kirk Cameron.
The group of families at the Lake Regional Library in Fort Myers, Florida kicked off the story hour with a prayer, asking Jesus to protect children while they gave thanks for the freedom of speech. They closed their event by singing “God Bless America.”
During story time, they read Mr. Cameron’s book “Pride Comes Before the Fall” and spoke afterwards about not being prideful and helping others.
“I think it is important for kids to hear things from their house first, so when they hear it from their peers, the first authority is their family and that’s who the first authority should be because they are our kids,” said Jessica Wielgot, a mother of two. “The Brave Books really give them great talking points like pride. Pride is a bad thing.”
Ms. Wielgot drove 40 minutes to attend the event in Fort Myers, Florida from her home in Naples, Florida, which is about 30 miles south. She said she would have loved to host a “See You at the Library” event in Naples had she known in advance of the opportunity.
Mr. Cameron held a video meeting with the volunteers ahead of the story hour, which was touted as marking Aug. 5 as “a day of singing, praying, and reading” at more than 300 libraries across the U.S., which agreed through local volunteers to host the gatherings.
The events are geared at supporting free speech and countering cancel culture, which was sparked by more than 50 public libraries not allowing Mr. Cameron to read his book, “As You Grow” — despite at least one of them having hosted Drag Story Hours with drag queen readers.
Some of Mr. Cameron’s book events involve prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, and singing “God Bless America.”
Mr. Cameron was set to appear at three libraries in Alabama, Tennessee and Texas during the gatherings on Aug. 5 — but days before the story hours were to take place, his lawyers had to tell a public library in Alabama that it is running afoul of the First Amendment by canceling his children’s event where Mr. Cameron and women’s sports activist Riley Gaines were set to appear.
First Liberty sent a demand letter to the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library on Thursday asking for a response by Friday after the library said Saturday’s event had to be canceled due to security concerns. The library made its announcement just two days ahead of the planned gathering.
According to First Liberty, the room at the library had been reserved for 250 people to attend the Brave Books event and canceling it at last minute suggests there’s viewpoint discrimination being exercised against Mr. Cameron and his publisher Brave Books.
The dispute, though, appeared to be resolved by Saturday, and there was an agreement for the reading to take place with a limit on the number of attendees due to spacing concerns, according to reports.
“I believe this reconciliation between us and the Madison Public Library is a testimony to the strength and power of moms and dads gathering in prayer for the blessing of their community. Both sides rose to a higher ethic than we often see in today’s polarized society,” Mr. Cameron tweeted.
A spokesperson from the library did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Chris Neubert, a Fort Myers father who brought his son to the story hour Saturday, told The Washington Times that he supports Brave Books because the company sends the message to children that it is ok to be themselves.
“It shows them that who they are is special. They don’t have to be somebody else,” he said.
Mr. Neubert said that the conflict between Mr. Cameron and other libraries was due to the “radical left” losing control over schools and education.
“They know that their time is coming to an end,” he said. “The left has had control of schools, Hollywood, courts for the past decade and they know that families and moms and dads are waking up and they are scared.”
