“This is a literary phenomenon,” said Mitchell Kaplan, owner of Books & Books, the independent bookstore where James was signing copies. “E L struck a nerve, and her storytelling speaks to so many people.”

In a few short months, James has snagged a seven-figure contract with Viking Books. Universal Pictures and Focus Films have purchased the rights to all three books in the trilogy about an unworldly college student who begins an unusual romantic relationship with a wealthy young businessman. The books have been called “mommy porn” for their sexual content and large, mostly female following, though men are signing up for autographs as well.

“I read it through lunch breaks and I’m giggling,” said Laura Vargas, 31, an executive assistant at a large insurance company. “I’m like, ‘I can’t believe she just wrote that.’”

James began writing the books as fan fiction to Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” series and quickly developed a cult-like following of her own. The romance between Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey is surprising because of its unconventional erotic nature: Grey asks Steele sign a contract, agreeing to be his “submissive” and to partake in a range of erotic activities. The stories were first published online, and as word of mouth spread, droves of people — many of them not traditional readers of romantic or erotic fiction — began downloading them on iPads and Kindles.

A broad swath of mostly women, of all ages and backgrounds, showed up Sunday at the bookstore in Miami’s Coral Gables neighborhood, a family-oriented, upper-class enclave of the city. A young server went around with a tray of bright-colored drinks, and fans exchanged giddy stories about their experience reading the books.

Mayreny Objio, 33, a teacher, said the books have taken her work colleagues by storm. They talk about who should play Christian Grey in the movie and his dominant nature. She read all three books in a week and brought her husband to the signing, encouraging him to read them, too.

“I think couples should read it,” Objio said. “It will bring a lot more spice. It’s something different.”

Emilia Diaz, 57, an aesthetician, said it was a man who introduced her to the books. They had been talking online and over the phone for months and finally agreed to meet in person. On their first date, he suggested she read the books.

“Maybe he wants you to be his submissive,” joked her cousin, Sandra Sousa-Druckman, an interior designer.

Diaz came in a group of four women, the eldest being Sousa-Druckman’s 87-year-old mother, Cathy Perkins. Perkins, who was married for 60 years, said she usually reads Danielle Steele but wants to take up the “Fifty Shades of Grey” books and its two follow-up novels next. She had a copy of the second book, “Fifty Shades Darker,” for James to autograph.

Stephanie Madison, 59, a bioterrorism coordinator at Jackson Hospital, said her boss had recommended the books to her. She then approached her daughter, Chantele Cogdell, about buying her a copy for Mother’s Day.

Cogdell, who works in medical billing and coding, went online to find out what the book was about. Cogdell usually buys her mother flowers, purses or gift cards.

“I said, ‘You really want this?’” Cogdell recalled.

Her mother enthusiastically replied: “Yes!”

Anne Messitte, the publisher of Viking Books, said the overwhelming response to James’ second book signing, and the first in her tour, was unprecedented for a new writer.

“I think at the heart of it, these are wonderful, modern stories that engross the reader,” she said. “They’re page-turners.”

Spurred by the U.S. Department of Education’s $4.35 billion Race to the Top grant competition, more than a dozen states have passed laws to reform how teachers are evaluated and include student growth as a component. For most students, that growth will be measured on standardized tests. But for special education students that is considerably more complicated.

“I don’t know how they would ever do that for my students,” said Campbell, who has 28 years of experience teaching special ed.

In its guidance to states applying for the funds, the Department of Education set as a priority increasing the number of effective teachers in special education, language services, and hard-to-staff subjects such as science and math. Effectiveness would be determined, in part, by whether students reached “acceptable rates” of academic growth. Federal officials provided some criteria for what should be included in teacher evaluations, but left states to decide how student growth should be measured.

The result is that in Illinois, Florida, New York and other states, education leaders and teachers unions are trying to create evaluations that take into account factors such as a student’s prior performance, socio-economic background and English language skills. Creating those measurements for general education teachers has proven challenging enough, but for special education teachers, it is even more trying, as officials try to find a way to evaluate growth that often can’t be measured on a test.

“The great concern right now in many states is they’re using the same criteria for the general education teachers that they’re going to use for the special education teachers and there’s real resistance to that,” said George Giuliani, director of the special education program at Hofstra University’s Graduate School and executive director of the National Association of Special Education Teachers.

In a survey by the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, 63 percent of special education teachers said they believed student achievement gains should be a component of their evaluations, but only 21 percent thought standardized test scores were an appropriate measure.

Seventy-eight percent said their state hadn’t determined how to measure the growth of students with the most profound disabilities. Complicating matters is the very limited research available on special education assessments and evaluations. That means states will have to study and modify their systems as they go along.

“It’s a very complex process and it’s kind of trial and error,” said study co-author Lynn Holdheide, a research associate at Vanderbilt University.

In New York and Illinois, recently passed laws require districts to base a significant percentage of each teacher’s evaluation on student growth. Both are still working to determine how that will be done for special education students, a category that encompasses a vast range of conditions, not all of which negatively affect academic performance. In Florida, the process has already begun, with a committee examining a broad range of conditions, from dyslexia to traumatic brain injuries, and analyzing the effect on test scores.

“The performance varied quite a bit based on disability,” said Kathy Hebda, Florida’s deputy education chancellor.

Because of that, the committee decided students with similar disabilities who can take Florida’s statewide math and reading assessment should be compared to one another. The student’s prior academic achievement will also be factored in. Teachers will then be evaluated based on how much above or below the average their students performed.

That, however, won’t work for students such as those in Campbell’s class. For now, most of them are too young to take Florida’s statewide assessment, but when they are older, they’d likely take an alternate test. Officials are still deciding how that exam could be used to measure student growth.

“A large number of special education students are able to make learning gains,” said Will Gordillo, administrative director for the division of special education at Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the nation’s fourth-largest school district.

Those with the most significant cognitive disabilities, however, may not.

“There’s concern with this group,” he said.

All three states are running up against deadlines: In New York, districts will use a growth component in this year’s evaluation, and transition to a “value-added” measure like the one being used in Florida and other states next school year. Chicago will also begin implementing a new teacher evaluation system in the fall.

Some have already expressed concern that the process is moving too quickly, and that it could have negative repercussions for disabled students.

Kevin Kumashiro, a professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago, was one of 88 professors who recently signed a letter raising questions about Chicago’s plans. In an interview, Kumashiro said there has been a trend when high stakes are placed on standardized test scores: students who require special services are either turned away or not tested.

“And neither situation is really good,” Kumashiro said.

In Florida, the stakes have already been set: 50 percent of teacher evaluations this school year will be based on student growth. For Campbell, that will consist of the school-wide average of students who do take the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test — students she has no involvement in teaching.

“We’re trying to implement something that wasn’t well thought out and now the clock is ticking,” said Mark Pudlow, a spokesman for Florida’s statewide teachers union. “It’s a real problem.”

On a recent morning, Campbell took her students at Amelia Earhart Elementary School in Hialeah, Fla., through their exercises. She put on a song and spent time with each student, saying their name, and encouraging them to look into a mirror and repeat it. Next she read from a giant book, about a third her size, about farm animals causing a ruckus in a house.

She went around the room with a small board that had images of a cow, horse and duck. She asked them to point to the cow. Some of the students chose the right image, but others didn’t. Some looked off in another direction, delighted by the attention, but unable to respond to the question.

For others she helped guide their hand to the right answer.

“It’s taken them a long time, and they’re just starting to get these three,” she said.

Campbell marvels at what others might see as tiny, insignificant improvements. She likes teaching students others might give up on, sometimes even their parents. One autistic student in her class came in unable to say his name and hardly spoke any words. Now he’s reciting many letters of the alphabet and words such as window and couch. Another child, confined to a wheelchair, used to scream and cry all day. Now she stays calm and follows the activities. A child with Down syndrome has begun correctly identifying pictures.

“These are little things,” she said, “but it’s a lot.”

His ultimate destination is being kept secret for his safety and it could be outside Florida.

As with the July 2011 release of Casey Anthony, the Florida woman acquitted of murder in the death of her young daughter, Zimmerman was released around midnight. But the similarities end there. Anthony was quickly whisked away by deputy sheriffs armed with rifles as angry protesters jeered her. While news helicopters briefly tracked her SUV through Orlando before she slipped from public view, there was no such pursuit of Zimmerman, who will have to return for trial.

Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester said at a hearing Friday that Zimmerman cannot have any guns and must observe a 7 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew. Zimmerman also surrendered his passport.

Zimmerman had to put up 10 percent, or $15,000, to make bail. His father had indicated he might take out a second mortgage.

Zimmerman worked at a mortgage risk-management company at the time of the shooting and his wife is in nursing school. A website was set up to collect donations for Zimmerman’s defense fund. It is unclear how much has been raised.

Bail is not unheard of in second-degree murder cases, and legal experts had predicted it would be granted for Zimmerman because of his ties to the community, because he turned himself in after he was charged last week, and because he has never been convicted of a serious crime.

Prosecutors had asked for $1 million bail, citing two previous scrapes Zimmerman had with the law, neither of which resulted in charges. In 2005, he had to take anger management courses after he was accused of attacking an undercover officer who was trying to arrest Zimmerman’s friend. In another incident, a girlfriend accused him of attacking her.

Zimmerman, 28, fatally shot Martin, 17, during an altercation on Feb. 26 inside the gated community where Zimmerman lived. Martin was unarmed and was walking back to the home of his father’s fiancée when Zimmerman saw him, called 911 and began following him. A fight broke out — investigators say it is unknown who started it.

Zimmerman says Martin, who was visiting from Miami, attacked him. Zimmerman says he shot Martin in self-defense, citing Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which gives broad legal protection to anyone who says they used deadly force because they feared death or great bodily harm.

Zimmerman was not charged for over six weeks, sparking national protests led by Martin’s parents, civil rights groups and the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Martin was black; Zimmerman’s father is white and his mother is from Peru.

Earlier Sunday, Zimmerman’s attorney was working to secure the money for bail and a safe place for Zimmerman to stay. But residents in Sanford, where Martin was killed, didn’t expect a ruckus once Zimmerman was released.

City commissioners said they hadn’t received calls from nervous residents. Protesters didn’t show up outside the jail. And talk at one local coffee shop seldom focused on the case.

“It’s just kind of a non-issue now,” said Michele Church, a server at Mel’s Family Diner. “That’s pretty much all anybody in Sanford wanted, was an arrest, so it could be sorted out in the court system.”

On Friday, a Florida judge agreed to let Zimmerman out on $150,000 bail. Defense attorney Mark O’Mara has said there are several options for where Zimmerman should go, but would not disclose any of them. Lester on Friday indicated Zimmerman would be allowed to leave the state if arrangements with law enforcement could be made for him to be monitored.

He was fitted with an electronic device when he was released Sunday, according to a statement from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.

About a half-dozen photographers and cameramen camped outside the Sanford jail Sunday, focused on the door marked “Bonds Rooms,” where other people who had been arrested and released on bail exited. Zimmerman had entered the jail about a week earlier after more than a month of nationwide protests calling for his arrest.

“The mood in Sanford has calmed down tremendously,” said Sanford Commissioner Patty Mahany, whose district includes the neighborhood where Martin was killed. “I think now that people are able to see the justice system taking place, even though they understand it’s going to be quite slow, people are willing to just remain calm and really we’re all getting back to our daily routines.”

A spokeswoman for the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office declined to release any information about whether they were increasing patrols or security.

Defense attorneys for other high-profile clients who awaited trial on bail have said Zimmerman should leave Florida and refrain from going out in public. Sanford residents say they aren’t expecting to see him around the neighborhood anytime soon.

“They’ve already said they’re going to move him to a safe place,” Church said. “Everyone has calmed down. That’s all anyone in Sanford wanted, an arrest.”

Meanwhile, Martin’s parents published a “Card of Thanks” in The Miami Herald obituary page Sunday. The note says Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin express their appreciation for all the public’s support since their son’s death. The notice includes a photograph of Trayvon Martin dressed in a hooded sweatshirt, similar to one he was wearing the evening he was killed.

“Words will never express how your love, support and prayers lifted our spirits and continue to give us the strength to march on,” the letter says.

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Associated Press photographer Brian Blanco in Sanford, Fla., contributed to this report.

“She has been at the forefront of the victim’s rights movement for her entire career,” said A. Russell Smith, a defense attorney in Jacksonville and personal friend. “Some people criticize her for that, saying it costs her the detachment and perspective that she needs. But that’s always been who she is and that is the platform she ran on.”

On Wednesday, Corey announced in Florida second-degree murder charges against George Zimmerman in Martin’s slaying. Zimmerman, 28, fatally shot the unarmed Florida teen on Feb. 26 as he was walking back from a convenience store in Sanford, Fla.

Zimmerman has claimed self-defense, but Martin’s family, supporters and civil rights leaders nationwide pressed for an arrest. The case prompted protests across the country and triggered a debate about race and the laws of self-defense. Martin was black; Zimmerman’s mother is Hispanic and his father is white.

Miles away in Washington, the teenager’s father, Tracy Martin, and mother, Sybrina Fulton, cried, hugged and clasped hands when Corey made the announcement. They and Trayvon’s brother, Jahvaris Fulton, were attending a national conference convened by civil rights activist Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.

“We wanted an arrest and we got it,” Fulton later said. “Thank you, Lord, thank you Jesus.”

Before a roomful of journalists, and under the microscope of a nation closely watching her decision, Corey discussed the case with a mixture of confidence and empathy, calling Martin’s parents “sweet” and vowing to uphold the law for their son and for Zimmerman.

“She’s not only a very good lawyer, I think everybody today saw she’s also a very good public figure,” Smith said.

Corey is known for her tough tactics, locking up criminals for long sentences and not negotiating easily on plea bargains. When she ran for the State Attorney’s Office in 2008, prosecuting juvenile criminals was one of her top priorities. She has a reputation for filing more charges, bringing more cases to trial and being less likely to use a grand jury than her predecessor. She’s also handled hundreds of cases involving the justifiable use of force.

“This case is just like many of the shooting deaths we’ve had in our circuit,” Corey said at the news conference. “If ‘stand your ground’ becomes an issue, we fight it if we believe it’s the right thing to do.”

Corey was referring to the law in Florida and at least 20 other states that gives wide latitude on using deadly force during a confrontation, and has been at the center of the Martin case.

Her predecessor, former State Attorney Harry Shorstein, fired her from the office she had worked in for 25 years in 2006. He has said the dismissal stemmed from an intern’s complaint that she had been unprofessional and profane. Shorstein asked her to respond to a professor who brought forward the complaint, but he said she instead sent a letter criticizing the professor for communicating the complaint.

Corey has disputed the account. Two years later, she ran for the State Attorney’s office and won. Simmons said advocating for victim’s rights was a part of her appeal to voters; as a prosecutor, he said, she was always concerned and outspoken about victims and their families.

That’s a side of the prosecutor Jay Howell, a Jacksonville attorney and former state prosecutor, knows well. His cousin was killed four years ago, and it was Corey’s office that handled the case. He’s also worked with her in other cases he has represented.

“It is a different experience when your family member has been murdered,” Howell said. “It’s just so confusing. It is just so disarming, for all of us, even experienced professionals in the criminal justice system, that a truly understanding, sympathetic, considerate voice is very welcomed by those whose lives have been upended by serious crime.”

That is the message Corey seemed to try and communicate Wednesday evening when asked about race and justice in a case that brought to surface so much tension and turmoil.

“We only know one category as prosecutors, and that’s a ‘V,’” she said, making a V with her fingers. “It’s not a ‘B.’ It’s not a ‘W.’ It’s not an ‘H.’ It’s a ‘V’ for victim. That’s who we work tirelessly for.”

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Associated Press writers Suzanne Gamboa and Sonya Ross in Washington contributed to this article.