TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — According to a list released by Florida's Department of Education, school districts across the state issued a combined total of 386 book bans after receiving a total of 1,218 objections in 2022.
A small movement
According to a recent analysis by the Tampa Bay Times, more than half of the objections were raised by the same two people: Bruce Friedman, the founder of the Florida chapter of the activist group No Left Turn in Education, and Vicki Baggett.
He reportedly got titles from an internet database and photocopied thousands of objections with vague complaints like "Protect Children!" and "Damaged Souls!".
Baggett submitted hundreds of complaints of "indoctrination" and apparently copied from book reviews on BookLooks.org, a book challenging group founded by a member of Moms for Liberty, the Times found.
And of the 386 book bans issued last year, 300 of them covered only three school districts: Clay County where Friedman lives (177 books banned), Martin County (98) and Manatee County (25). There are 67 school districts in Florida altogether. Fifty-one of those districts (including Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, and Citrus counties) did not remove a single book from school shelves in 2022.
5 controversial titles
The titles that were removed from schools often varied by school district despite the fact that efforts to get specific titles banned made national headlines. Such was the case with "And Tango Makes Three," "Let's Talk About It" and "This Book is Gay" (which was also the only title Hillsborough County schools banned last year).
Even so, the controversy around some titles reached far enough to get them removed from multiple counties:
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas - The popular series of adult fantasy novels about a young woman who is taken to a faerie kingdom at war was a New York Times Bestseller. The books are intended for adults 17 or older as they contain sex scenes and abusive relationships. However, it is unclear whether school libraries even carried these books in the first place.
- Lucky by Alice Sebold - The memoir written by the author of the book "The Lovely Bones" detailed her rape and brutal assault and how surviving it shaped the rest of her life. The memoir generated attention in Florida after Friedman objected to the book's graphic descriptions of sexual assault at a school board meeting in November. The board cut his mic before he could read a passage from it.
- L8r, G8r by Lauren Myracle - The third book in Myracle's famous "Internet Girls" series, which told coming-of-age stories for young girls written entirely in internet-speak and instant messages, was removed from multiple schools for its use of profanity and its depictions of adult sexuality as part of its plot.
- Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews - A novel about a socially awkward high school senior who, along with his friend and fellow amateur filmmaker, befriends a classmate who is dying of leukemia. Though the novel was well-received, schools have banned it due to complaints about sexually explicit content.
- The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur - Canadian poet Kaur's second book of poetry was the follow-up to "Milk and Honey," which became one of the most widely banned books in the U.S. due to its explorations of difficult subjects like sexual assault, trauma, abuse and family issues. Her second collection, which featured more poems touching on abuse, healing from trauma, infanticide and other touchy subjects, was pulled from schools due largely to the controversy "Milk and Honey" generated.