I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero HarrisĪngus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health by Robie H. It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity by Theresa Thorn What Girls Are Made Of by Elana K. ArnoldĪ Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss Among them, you'll find titles by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, satirical novelist Kurt Vonnegut, and prominent author and poet Margaret Atwood.Ī Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Picking up where we left off, here's a list of books banned in Florida's school districts since July 2022, according to PEN America. "But that is how censorship works - it sweeps up not just material directly banned but also exerts a well-documented 'chilling effect' whereby a wider circle of books and ideas are off limits to avoid risk of punishment." "Have some schools been overly cautious? Quite possibly," Nossel continued. PEN America's chief executive Suzanne Nossel responded in a statement, saying the "approaches and methods being legislated statewide go far beyond any conceivable effort in service" of the governor's stated goal of removing sexualized texts. Why would we have that in a media center with 10-year-old students?'" DeSantis said. " have procedures where they can say, 'Wait a minute. He said his administration was only trying to remove inappropriate materials from classrooms and that the media was perpetuating a "book-ban hoax." "Because the laws are vague, everybody's confused, and everybody's a little scared," Reagan Miller, a mom and leader of the Florida Freedom to Read Project, told Education Week.ĭuring a March press conference, DeSantis showed an audience in Tampa clips of books, including graphic novels with sexual images, which he claimed were found in Florida public schools. Meanwhile, Florida is requiring local librarians to ensure "alignment to state academic standards" and to weed out school books that subject children to "indoctrination," a term used by the governor and his supporters to justify passing restrictions on LGBTQ-related content. But in practice, some county officials have been readily restricting access to school library books based on challenges mirroring the bill. The state currently mandates that librarians undergo training to avoid selecting books that violate Florida regulations and to "err on the side of caution" when selecting materials.įlorida has argued in court that the "Don't Say Gay" bill applies only to classroom materials. The new laws and administrative rules have been cited by teachers, librarians, administrators, and parents alike as the reason for books being removed from school shelves.įear of tempting the wrath of parents or the Florida Department of Education has left many educators walking on eggshells. While the new laws don't ban specific titles, they've opened the door for activists to challenge dozens of books in Florida schoolhouses on the grounds that they contain non-compliant content. The surge in the removal of books - many of which are about race, sexuality, sexual orientation, and gender identity - came amid a flurry of new Florida laws such as the Stop WOKE Act, which restricts teaching about systemic racism in schools, and the so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill, which bans instruction involving gender identity and sexual orientation before fourth grade (recently extended, in large part, through the end of high school under a new Florida Department of Education rule). The organization reports that Florida had the second-highest number of book-banning incidents in the nation during that period, trailing only Texas. The nation has seen a surge in book bans over the past two years as parents, conservative activists, and elected officials have flooded school districts with requests to wipe scores of titles from classrooms and libraries - with Florida still leading the pack in such incidents.Īfter more than 200 books were banned in various school districts across Florida between the summer of 2021 and 2022, districts continued the crackdown, banning 357 books between July and December 2022, according to the nonprofit organization PEN America. Still, there's one item school districts in Florida appear to have consistently banned more than almost any other U.S. It's part of a nationwide push by conservative politicians to draw their battle lines in the culture wars and signal to their constituency that they're decidedly anti-woke. Ron DeSantis' administration and the state's Republican-dominated legislature have instituted a dizzying number of regulations restricting what Floridians can say, read, and scroll through mindlessly. Florida's been banning a lot of things these days.įrom an AP African American studies course to classroom gender-identity discussions to TikTok on university phones, Gov.
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