A school district in Florida has banned a book about book banning.
Yes, you read that right. They BANNED A BOOK ABOUT BOOK BANNING.
The school district of Indian River County, Florida, voted in May to remove Alan Gratz’s 2017 novel, presciently titled, "Ban This Book," from its shelves, overruling its own review committee which had recommended that the district retain the book. "Ban This Book" follows a fictional fourth grader who tries to check out her favorite book from her school library only to find it's been removed due to a ban. She rebels by starting a secret banned-book library.
Indian River County School Board members said they disliked how Gratz’s book referenced other books that had been removed from schools and accused it of "teaching rebellion of school board authority," as described in the formal motion to oust it.
"The thing they took objection to was calling out [school officials] in banning books. Now irony is dead." Gratz told CBS MoneyWatch. He added: "I guess if you call a book 'Ban This Book,' you are kind of asking for it."
The book, which had been in two Indian River County elementary schools and a middle school, was challenged by the head of the area's local chapter of Moms for Liberty, a national conservative group that has become one of the loudest advocates for removing books they deem inappropriate.
Florida Freedom to Read, one of the state's most prominent book-access advocates, called the removal "truly absurd" in a social media post, adding, "This is what happens when you lose a nonpartisan majority."
Take action
Alarmed by the escalating attempts to censor books? Here are five steps you can take now to protect the freedom to read.
- Follow news and social media in your community and state to keep apprised of organizations working to censor library or school materials.
2. Show up for library workers at school or library board meetings and speak as a library advocate and community stakeholder who supports a parent’s right to restrict reading materials for their own child but not for all
3. Help provide a safety net for library professionals as they defend intellectual freedom in their communities by giving to the LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund.
4. Educate friends, neighbors, and family members about censorship and how it harms communities. Share information from Banned Books Week.
5. Join the Unite Against Book Bans movement and visit our Fight Censorship page to learn what you can do to defend the freedom to read in your community.
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Photo: Robert E. Kennedy Library at Cal Poly, CC BY-NC 2.0.
