Many of us have been alarmed by the number of books banned in Florida school districts
in the past few years. Banned Books Week 2023 seems like a great time to blog about them, order them, and read them!
When is Banned Books Week 2023?
Banned Books Week 2023 is from Sunday, October 1 to Saturday, October 7. It’s a reminder that we all have to protect the right to free speech—including speech that offends some of us.
What books are being banned in Florida?
Actually, hundreds of books have been removed from school district shelves. In the Clay County School district, about 94% percent of the books removed were at the demand of one man, Bruce Friedman, who doesn’t have children in the district and who says he hasn’t read most of the books he tries to get removed.
It’s fine for someone to decide a book isn’t right for them or for their children. However, one person should’ve have the right to decide which books are available to everyone else. If a book is truly objectionable or inappropriate for children, there will be broad support for its removal from school libraries, but in most cases, the removals are baffling.
According to reports, 70% of Florida parents with children in the schools disagree with the book bans.
Here are twelve of the books that have been removed from school shelves in Florida school districts. In some cases, they may have been returned to the shelves after many months’ time.
How Can We Resist Book Bans?
I have a few thoughts, and maybe you have some, too!
01
If you’re in the United States, and you’re not in Illinois or California, write a letter to your governor in support of bills like this one passed in Illinois that outlaws public library book bans, and this one passed in California which outlaws book bans and textbook censorship in public schools.
02
Research and vote for common-sense candidates for your local school boards. Very few of us vote in these elections, and they’re important. If you’re a concerned parent or educator, consider running yourself.
03
Even if you don’t have children in school, follow the news about your district so that if books are being pulled from shelves, you know about it. Show up to school board meetings to speak up in protest of bans.
04
Share banned books in your Little Free Library, if you have one—or in other people’s Little Free Libraries.
05
Request books banned by school districts at your local library, if they don’t have them already.
06
Buy and read banned books!
Do you have thoughts about banned books in Florida
and other states? Let us know in the comments! Thanks so much for reading, and have a great week!
Only one of those twelve do I even remotely agree with having banned, but I also agree that it’s not up to me to have a book banned, it’s just not for me. What should be banned is the forced reading of books like that that offend people. If a person chooses to read something from a list of books, that’s fine, but to force students to read specific and often old books that many students can’t even begin to wrap their heads around, that I don’t like. There’s plenty of new books that can teach the same lessons as the tried and true old books.
While I agree with much of what you say, Raya, I disagree about ‘forcing’ students to read certain books. Quite apart from the problem of setting exam questions if pupils aren’t reading the same books, there is value in reading the classics. You get an idea of what life and values were in those times. Apart from the fact that some of them are darn good stories. Some students wouldn’t read at all unless they were ‘forced’.
And as to new books teaching the same lesson–yes that’s true, but why does there have to be a lesson? What’s wrong with a good story for its own sake?
I’m from the UK. This doesn’t seem to be a big problem here. But have you noticed that many of the books you highlight are about or by black, Jewish, Muslim, Afghanistan people? Is there a racist element here?
And there should be a minimum number of people requesting the ban and they should have to show good reason.
We are far too accomodating to people who might be offended by something that most of us accept. No one must be offended these days. An impossibility. If you’re offended by something, like a book, don’t read it. Don’t go to see the offending film. Turn the TV off if you don’t like the content.
In that comment I don’t include racist speech, incitement to violence, warmongering or other things of that ilk.
I think there’s absolutely a racist and bigoted element to all this. When you look at the complete lists of books that have been pulled off shelves, it’s really hard to deny. I like your idea of having a minimum number of people requesting the ban! And I agree completely. All books, TV shows, and statements are going to offend somebody. But the First Amendment in the U.S. is supposed to protect free speech.
Wow, I am truly shocked at the caliber of books that are being banned. Pulitzer and Booker Prize winners! How ridiculous. This is some of the finest literature available.
I know! I find that so shocking. There are a lot of prestigious books being pulled off the shelves!
Thank you for this post. I have a blog and did a post on banned books and the slippery slope. The more we shed light and push back the more hope I have.
I’m glad you’re blogging about it too, Ariel! I agree—the more we shed light on it and push back, the better. Have a great week!
Thank you for the good ideas of how to deal with this problem, Bryn!
You bet! Thanks for reading!
All of the books they’re attempting to ban in our school district seem to be LGBTQI+ books. The MoL has tried to get on the school board, and there seems to be a direct relation to the call for the ban.
Another local school district is having similar calls for bans.
Ugh! That’s so awful. They’re not even subtle about it.