PEN America: Florida removed more library books than any state last year

Florida topped every state in the nation for the number of books removed from school libraries during the 2023-2024 school year. 

That’s 4,500 books from July 2023 to June 2024, according to an annual report from PEN America, a nonprofit advocating for freedom of expression. 

That represents nearly half of nationwide removals, which numbered 10,064. Iowa, which removed more than 3,600 books, was next closest to Florida. 

Florida’s 2023 law, HB 1069, created a legal process for removing books, including a requirement that they be pulled while schools respond to challenges filed by parents or citizens. The list compiled by PEN includes books permanently removed from schools, removed pending investigation, and restrictions based on grade level or requiring parental permission. 

Thirty-three school districts in Florida removed books, according to PEN’s report. 

Escambia, Clay, Collier, and Orange counties’ removal numbers were among the highest in the state. 

Escambia accounted for 1,582 of Florida’s removals. A great deal of them were “banned pending investigation” in August 2023, shortly after the book removal law took effect. 

During the 2024 legislative session, lawmakers passed a law limiting book challenges by residents without a child in school to one per month.

A group of book publishers filed suit against the Florida Board of Education in August, claiming the book removal law is overbroad and has caused a chilling effect.

Nationwide

The 10,064 removals nationwide included 4,231 unique titles across 29 states and 220 school districts. In 2022-2023, schools removed 1,557; in 2021-2022, the number was 1,643. 

Of that total, 43% were complete removals. 

“It is important to recognize that books available in schools, whether in a school or classroom library or as part of a curriculum, were selected by librarians and educators as part of the educational offerings to students,” reads the PEN America news release.

“Book bans occur when those choices are overridden by school boards, administrators, or even politicians on the basis of a particular book’s content.”

Among the titles removed in more than one district, more than half, 57%, included sex-related themes and 39% included LGBTQ characters or people. 

The most banned book was “Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult. Other most commonly removed titles include “Looking for Alaska” by John Green, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky, “Crank” by Ellen Hopkins, “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood, “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, and “A Court of Frost and Starlight” by Sarah J. Maas. 

“Having the most banned book in the country is not a badge of honor — it’s a call for alarm,” Picoult said in PEN’s news release. 

“’Nineteen Minutes’ is banned not because it’s about a school shooting, but [] because of a single page that depicts a date rape and uses anatomically correct words for the human body. It is not gratuitous or salacious, and it is not — as the book banners claim — porn. In fact, hundreds of kids have told me that reading ’19 Minutes’ stopped them from committing a school shooting, or showed them they were not alone in feeling isolated.”

The nonprofit states that its numbers present a “snapshot of the total number of book bans and the distribution of book bans across states and districts are likely an undercount. Book bans from schools and districts often go under-reported or unreported.”

This story was originally published by the Florida Phoenix