UPDATING: Adding a 9th county that has removed books (Palm Beach)
(MIAMI)—A new wave of hundreds of book bans has hit Florida school districts, with at least nine counties pulling titles from shelves, in response to a warning by the state Board of Education, which threatened legal action if one school district failed to remove books with sexual content, PEN America said today.
The state’s action against Hillsborough County this past May spread fear in school districts statewide leading to book removals, which have been publicly confirmed by Columbia, Escambia, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, Palm Beach, Pinellas, and St. Johns counties ahead of the start of the new school year this month.
According to a report by the Sun Sentinel newspaper citing an internal memo, the latest reported book removals include Broward County, where 55 books were pulled from shelves, including titles such as Forever… by Judy Blume, Sold by Patricia McCormick, and Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. The newspaper also quoted a spokesperson for Palm Beach County schools on book removals: “The School District of Palm Beach County is aware of the list of materials referenced in the June 4, 2025 State Board of Education meeting,” a district spokesman said. “Any of the specified materials found to be present in our school libraries have been removed.”
It’s likely that additional counties may have quietly complied by removing books out of fear of state retaliation if they did not.
PEN America Florida Director William Johnson said: “School officials pulled these books because the state’s campaign of intimidation had been effective. School districts are scared to be next. There is now a frightening shared understanding that if they quietly fall in line, they might stay off the state government’s radar a little longer. Unless we speak up at school board meetings, in front of our state representatives, and in our communities, fear will continue to define the future of public education in Florida, becoming the new normal as the freedom to read is trampled.”
This wave of book bans follows a recent censorship campaign launched by the Florida Department of Education against Hillsborough County, which led to the removal of over 600 titles from school library shelves pending review in May with no public input. These titles had no challenges filed against them, nor were they the focus of complaints by parents, or violated state law. Even so, the state Attorney General called many of them “patently pornographic” and stated they should be removed in a letter to the Hillsborough County school board with threats of legal action.
In Escambia County specifically, the school unanimously voted to permanently remove over 400 books without review, with one board member stating that they are “liable for whatever pornographic stuff is in our libraries.” Books removed include I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.
The fear and intimidation sparked in Hillsborough quickly spread throughout the state, said Stephana Ferrell, director of research & insight at the Florida Freedom to Read Project. “Under the guise of affirming ‘parental rights,’ state leaders have used threats and intimidation to constrict our children’s access to information without or against our input. Defending the freedom to read does not forfeit our right or responsibilities as parents to discuss and set boundaries with our own children, but it does work to protect against someone else or the government taking that opportunity away from us. Our children need us to speak up on their behalf.”
PEN America’s Johnson said: “Teachers and librarians are operating under a cloud of anxiety and fear that certainly doesn’t serve students well. This censorship isn’t about protecting kids or giving parents more say. It’s about controlling narratives. And students, educators, and the integrity of public education are paying the price.”
Spike in Book Bans Nationwide Since 2021
Since 2021, PEN America has been at the forefront of documenting and defending against the unprecedented rise of school book bans nationwide and the spread of educational censorship that targets subjects in public school classrooms and on college campuses. More than 10,000 instances of book bans were counted in the last school year and more than 16,000 since 2021. Florida and Iowa banned the most books of all states during the 2023-2024 school year, according to PEN America’s documentation.
Black and LGBTQ+ authors and books about race, racism, and LGBTQ identities have been disproportionately affected in the book bans documented by PEN America. Learn more about book bans.
About PEN America
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Learn more at pen.org.
Contact: Suzanne Trimel, [email protected], (201) 247-5057