At 3 years old, Marina Conde is still learning how to express herself through her words. Prior to a family-friendly event at a Gainesville bookstore Saturday, Marina hasn’t thought about or known what free speech means.
But that’s why her mother, Katie Comfort, brought her to the event to hear an author read a picture book explaining this concept, which was put on by The Lynx Books and national free speech group PEN America.
“I think something that we’re really seeing currently is older children and adults not understanding the importance of their First Amendment rights and their ability to express themselves,” Comfort said. “So, the earlier the child gets exposed to that in kid-friendly language, hopefully the more effective it’ll be in the long term,”
The book in question is “We Are Free: Our First Amendment Rights,” and it was written by Allison Matulli, an attorney and author who the kids called “Dr. Ally.” This event comes just before the start of Banned Books Week, a week when advocates raise awareness of book bans and reading access across the country.
About 15 kids from preschool to 9th grade listened to Matulli read. Afterwards, she gave advice to parents on how to broach what could be a complicated topic, especially for young children yet to go to kindergarten.
For 6th grader Shepard Canion, free speech was already a familiar concept.
He came to the event with his mom and brother. To him, freedom is, “the right to say anything you want,do anything you want, look like anything you want, think anything you want, and not be pushed down”.
They gathered on the Lynx’s outdoor patio, with chairs lined up in rows for the reading. In the back, tables were laid with colorful markers, star stickers and blank speech bubble posters. After the reading, Matulli asked the kids to exercise their freedom by creating art.
For parents, Matulli said the key for kids understanding the First Amendment is to relate it to their everyday lives.
“How they engage with their friends at school, how they engage with each other, the decisions that they make, the access they have to books, the ability to make decisions, and the ability to disagree — that’s all part of our fundamental first freedoms,” Matulli said.
The event is especially relevant in Florida, a state ranked No. 1 in book bans by PEN America in the 2024-25 school year. The group regularly challenges new state laws making it easier for parents and school officials to file objections to books. It’s also entangled in a lawsuit against an Escambia County school board, alleging its decisions to remove books violate the First Amendment.
In late August, the Florida Department of Education reported nearly 600 books removed from public schools in the 2025-26 school year, in its annual audit per state law.
Additionally, in recent weeks, Florida’s Education Commissioner Henry Mack warned school districts to preemptively remove books that other districts have yanked off library shelves, which PEN America said could worsen the state’s “troubling book censorship” problem.
Sarika Joshi took her 3-year-old son, Rowan Thomas, to the event, saying she hoped the event’s arts and craft activities may help frame free speech in a way he’d get.
“Are we free to draw in colors? Should we be able to color whatever we want to?,” Joshi asked her son.
In her advice on how to start talking to kids about free speech, Matulli said teaching children their rights could be as simple as letting them vote on what to eat for dinner. She also said parents should lean away from focusing on risk, or what speech can get someone in trouble.
“I think there should be excitement when you talk about their First Amendment rights. I grew up in a time where I saw an expansion and I felt the possibility of my rights. Lean into that,” Matulli said.
Finally, she said to build curiosity and let kids forge their own paths. “It’s not up to us to tell them what to change,” Matulli said. “It’s not up to us to limit their access to what their dreams are or what books they have access to.”