Last week, Martin County, Florida, released a list of dozens of books it had removed from school libraries, including 20 books by Jodi Picoult, nine books from James Patterson’s Maximum Ride series, and two books by Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison. Some were removed from multiple locations, for a total of 92 book bans.
It appears that the majority of these books were removed in response to a single objector in the district, a local leader with the group Moms For Liberty, who filed forms indicating that she did not actually read any of the books in question. Complaints erroneously stated that all of Jodi Picoult’s books are “adult romance,” and alleged that former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Jason Reynolds is “controversial.” John Green’s Looking for Alaska was targeted for being “depressing.”
Send a letter to Martin County asking them to put books back on shelves.
Picoult noted that one of her targeted books, The Storyteller, is a novel about the Holocaust that chronicles the growth of anti-Semitism and fascism in Nazi Germany. “There was a strange irony that a parent wanted this particular book removed, because it felt a bit like history repeating itself,” Picoult wrote in The Daily Beast.
According to district officials, these complaints were heeded to comply with a directive from the Florida Department of Education to “err on the side of caution” when reviewing books, as part of the implementation of a new law, HB 1467.
“The majority of the books that were targeted do not even have a kiss in them,” Picoult wrote. “What they do have, however, are issues like racism, abortion rights, gun control, gay rights, and other topics that encourage kids to think for themselves.”
These are the 84 books banned in Martin County, Florida
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie
- All American Boys, Jason Reynolds Brendan Kiely
- Almost Perfect, Brian Katcher
- America, E.R. Frank
- The Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein
- Ask The Passengers, A.S. King
- Beloved, Toni Morrison
- The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
- The Breakaways, Cathy G. Johnson
- The Carnival at the Bray, Jessie Ann Foley
- Change of Heart, Jodi Picoult
- A Court of Mist and Fury, Sarah J Maas
- A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J Mass
- A Court of Wings and Ruin, Sarah J Maas
- Damsel Elana K Arnold
- Drama, Raina Telgemeier
- Empire of Storms, Sarah J Maas
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer
- Fade #2 (Wake Trilogy), Lisa McMann
- The Female of the Species, Mindy McGinnis
- Forever, Judy Blume
- The Freedom Writer’s Diary, Erin Gruwell
- Gabi (A Girl in Pieces), Isabel Quintero
- Ghost Boys, Jewell Parker Rhodes
- Go Ask Alice, Anonymous
- Handle with Care, Jodi Picoult
- The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
- The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas
- Heroine, Mindy McGinnis
- Hopeless, Colleen Hoover
- House Rules, Jodi Picoult
- I am Not your (Perfect) Mexican Daughter, Erika Sanchez
- Juliet Takes A Breath, Gabby Rivera
- Keeping Faith, Jodi Picoult
- Kingdom of Ash, Sarah J Maas
- The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
- L8rG8r, Lauren Myracle
- Leaving Time, Jodi Picoult
- Life is Funny, E.R. Frank
- Living Dead Girl, Elizabeth Scott
- Lone Wolf, Jodi Picoult
- Looking for Alaska, John Green
- Losing Hope, Colleen Hoover
- The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
- Maximum Ride: Angel, James Patterson
- Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment, James Patterson
- Maximum Ride: Fang, James Patterson
- Maximum Ride: The Final Warning, James Patterson
- Maximum Ride: Max, James Patterson
- Maximum Ride: Maximum Ride Forever, James Patterson
- Maximum Ride: Nevermore, James Patterson
- Maximum Ride: Saving the World & Other Extreme, James Patterson
- Maximum Ride: School’s Out Forever, James Patterson
- Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Jesse Andrews
- Mercy Jodi Picoult
- Mighty Jack and the Goblin King, Ben Hatke
- Monday’s Not Coming, Tiffany D. Jackson
- More Happy Than Not, Adam Silvera
- My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult
- Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult
- The Nowhere Girls, Amy Reed
- The Pact, Jodi Picoult
- Perfect Match, Jodi Picoult
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
- Picture Perfect, Jodi Picoult
- Plain Truth, Jodi Picoult
- Ramona Blue, Julie Murphy
- Salem Falls, Jodi Picoult
- Second Glance, Jodi Picoult
- Shine, Lauren Myracle
- Sing You Home, Jodi Picoult
- Sold, Patricia McCormick
- Songs of a Humpback Whale, Jodi Picoult
- Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson (English copy, graphic novel, Chinese translation, video)
- Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You, Jason Reynolds
- The Storyteller, Jodi Picoult
- The Tenth Circle, Jodi Picoult
- Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher
- Tower of Dawn #6 (Throne of Glass series), Sarah J. Maas
- The Truth About Alice, Jennifer Mathieu
- Unravel Me, Tahereh Mafi
- Vanishing Acts, Jodi Picoult
- Where I End & You Begin, Preston Norton
- Wicked: Life & Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Gregory Maguire
