ORLANDO, Fla. – The 2023-2024 school year is getting started, but students and teachers are still seeing people pushing to pull certain books from the shelves within districts across the nation.
It’s a phenomenon that’s also impacting Central Florida’s school libraries.
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Last year, PEN America, an international group that advocates for literacy freedom, released a report on the banned book movement, highlighting trends in what literature was being challenged.
Of the books banned between July 2021 and June 2022, 41% had LGBTQ themes, protagonists or prominent secondary characters, 40% had characters of color as primary or prominent secondary characters, 21% dealt with race or racism, and 22% contained sexual content.
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News 6 reached out to school districts in Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole, Sumter and Volusia counties to find out which books are being banned in the area.
You can find a list of books that have been banned or are currently under review within Central Florida school districts below. We will update the list with more responses as we receive them.
Brevard Public Schools
According to the school district website, three books have been banned, and another two have been restricted. There is also a list of books under informal and formal book reviews currently up on the Brevard Public Schools website. Those books have been pulled from circulation pending the outcome of a review.
| Title | Author | Status |
|---|---|---|
| House of Earth and Blood | Sarah Maas | Book kept at librarians’ desks for students 18 years or older with parent permission. |
| Empire of Storms | Sarah Maas | Available to students in the 10th grade and up |
| Milk and Honey | Rupi Kaur | Removed from all libraries |
| Home Body | Rupi Kaur | Removed from all libraries |
| The Sun and Her Flowers | Rupi Kaur | Removed from all libraries |
Flagler Schools
A school district spokesperson sent over the status of multiple titles, including several that were removed. The district added that all the books currently under review are from the high schools. Updated information is on the Flagler County Schools website.
| Title | Author | Status |
|---|---|---|
| A Court of Mist & Fury | Sarah J. Maas | Weeded in middle schools prior to 22-23 school year |
| Breathless | Jennifer Niven | Keep - high school only |
| Crank | Ellen Hopkins | Keep - high school only |
| Damsel | Elana K. Arnold | Removed |
| Dreaming in Cuban | Cristina Garcia | Not in circulation |
| L8R G8R | Lauren Myracle | Removed |
| Last Night at the Telegraph Club | Malinda Lo | Keep - high school only |
| Looking for Alaska | John Green | Keep - high school only |
| Lucky | Marissa Stapley | Weeded prior to 22-23 school year |
| Me and Earl and the Dying Girl | Jesse Andrews | Removed |
| Push | Sapphire | Weeded prior to 22-23 school year |
| Sold | Patricia McCormick | Keep - high school only |
| The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian | Sherman Alexie | Keep |
| The Black Flamingo | Dean Atta | Keep - high school only |
| The Haters | Jesse Andrews | Weeded prior to 22-23 school year |
| The Kite Runner | Khaled Hosseini | Part of adopted curriculum |
| The Nowhere Girls | Amy Reed | Removed |
| The Truth About Alice | Jennifer Mathieu | Keep - high school only |
| The Upside of Unrequited | Becky Albertalli | Weeded in middle schools prior to 22-23 school year |
| Thirteen Reasons Why | Jay Asher | Weeded in middle schools prior to 22-23 school year |
| Tilt | Ellen Hopkins | Weeded |
| What Girls are Made of | Elana K. Arnold | Weeded |
Lake County Schools
A school district spokesperson sent over the status of multiple titles, including several that were removed.
| Title | Author | Grade | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo | Jill Twiss | K-3 | Administrative removal as per HB 1557 due to sexual orientation/gender identification |
| House of Spirits | Isabel Allendale | Under review for use in the media center | |
| In Our Mother’s House | Patricia Polacco | K-3 | Administrative removal as per HB 1557 due to sexual orientation/gender identification |
| The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian | Sherman Alexie | Elementary schools | |
| Perks of Being a Wallflower | Stephen Chbosky | Middle and high schools | Administrative removal as per FL Statute 847.012 due to explicit sexual content |
| Looking for Alaska | John Green | Middle and high schools | Administrative removal as per FL Statute 847.012 due to explicit sexual content |
| Nineteen Minutes | Jodie Picoult | Middle and high schools | Administrative removal as per FL Statute 847.012 due to explicit sexual content |
| Crank | Ellen Hopkins | Middle and high schools | Administrative removal as per FL Statute 847.012 due to explicit sexual content |
| A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl | Tanya Stone | Middle and high schools | Administrative removal as per FL Statute 847.012 due to explicit sexual content |
| Me, Earl and the Dying Girl | Jesse Andrews | Middle and high schools | Administrative removal as per FL Statute 847.012 due to explicit sexual content |
| Tilt | Ellen Hopkins | Middle and high schools | Administrative removal as per FL Statute 847.012 due to explicit sexual content |
Marion County Public Schools
According to the Marion County Public Schools website, dozens of books have either been quarantined or removed in the 2022-2023 school year. Quarantined books have been removed from circulation pending a decision by the district. The complete list can be found on the MCPS website.
The books below were removed from circulation in Marion County’s school district.
| Book | Author | School Year Challenged | Current Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flamer | Mike Curato | 2022-23 | Removed |
| It’s Perfectly Normal Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, Gender and Sexual Health | Robie H. Harris | 2022-23 | Removed |
| Milk and Honey | Rupi Kaur | 2022-23 | Removed |
| Not My Idea | Anastasia Higginbotham | 2022-23 | Removed |
| Precious/Push | Sapphire | 2022-23 | Removed |
| The Sun and Her Flowers | Rupi Kaur | 2022-23 | Removed |
| This Book is Gay | Juno Dawson | 2022-23 | Removed |
Orange County Public Schools
OCPS keeps a running list of challenged books on its website, and says that list will be updated as needed.
| Book | Author | School Year Challenged | Current Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender Queer | Maia Kobabe | 2021-22 | Removed: District-wide |
| Lawn Boy | Jonathan Evison | 2021-22 | Not Removed |
| Born a Crime | Trevor Noah | 2021-22 | Not Removed |
| This Book is Gay | Juno Dawson | 2022-23 | Removed: District-wide |
| Let’s Talk About It | Erika Moen, Matthew Nolan | 2022-23 | Removed: District-wide |
| Shut Up! | Marilyn Reynolds | 2022-23 | Removed: School level |
| Scars | Cheryl Rainfield | 2022-23 | Not Removed |
| Tricks | Ellen Hopkins | 2022-23 | Restricted to high school |
| Identical | Ellen Hopkins | 2022-23 | Restricted to high school |
| Water for Elephants | Sara Gruen | 2022-23 | Removed: District-wide |
| It’s Perfectly Normal Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, Gender and Sexual Health | Robie H. Harris | 2022-23 | Removed: District-wide |
| Assassination Classroom Volume 1 | Yusei Matsui | 2022-23 | Removed: School level |
| The Infinite Moment of Us | Lauren Myracle | 2022-23 | Pending |
Osceola County School District
The Osceola School District has removed five books from its collections, according to a spokesperson.
| Book | Author | School Year Challenged | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tricks | Ellen Hopkins | 2022-23 | Removed |
| Out of Darkness | Ashley Hope Perez | 2022-23 | Removed |
| Looking for Alaska | John Green | 2022-23 | Removed |
| All Boys Aren’t Blue | George M. Johnson | 2022-23 | Removed |
| Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl | Jesse Andrews | 2022-23 | Removed |
Polk County Public Schools
The school district said it has not banned any books at this time. School officials added in 2022, they reviewed several titles challenged by Concerned Citizens Defending Freedom, and as a result, created an online system allowing parents to opt their child out of checking out certain books from the library.
More recently, the same group objected to several titles being purchased at two new Polk County schools under construction. The school board has since voted 6-1 to move forward with the purchase of those books.
Seminole County Public Schools
A school district spokesperson said it received challenges to eight titles, resulting in six of the books requiring a new parental consent procedure prior to checkout and two of the books being discontinued from high school media centers and classroom libraries.
| Title | Author | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Date Rape | Christine Watkins | Parental consent required |
| Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda | Jean-Philippe Stassen | Parental consent required |
| Push | Sapphire | Parental consent required |
| Sold | Patricia McCormick | Parental consent required |
| Triangles | Ellen Hopkins | Parental consent required |
| Tricks | Ellen Hopkins | Parental consent required |
| Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human (A Graphic Novel) | Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan | Discontinued |
| Lucky | Alice Sebold | Discontinued |
Sumter District Schools
A school district spokesperson said there have been no requests to ban any books, so none is prohibited at this time.
Volusia County Schools
According to the school district’s website, only one book has been removed from all school libraries: Flamer by Mike Curato. Sixteen other books were restricted to high school libraries only, and two books were restricted to middle and high school libraries. The full list can be found on the Volusia County Schools website.
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