Acclaimed classic “The Handmaid’s Tale” is one of the most-removed books in Florida schools.
New lists from a nonprofit advocacy group and the Florida Department of Education both place that book in the top three of removed novels for the 2023-24 school year, highlighting the school-shelf access effects of recent laws passed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida’s legislative GOP supermajority.
And that includes access to one of the most popular and influential books in the nation.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” was challenged and subsequently removed in five Florida school districts last year, according to the state list: Bay, Hernando, Indian River, Manatee and Volusia. The year before that, the districts in Clay and Martin counties took similar action.
Put emphasis on “challenged,” however, as the state Department of Education data excludes books that weren’t formally challenged but were still removed by districts. A large number of books fall in that category in Florida.
Nor does it take into account books that have been pulled pending a review of their content, which also make up a big batch. There were more than 700 book removals on the latest state list, nearly double what was seen the year before.
National free speech group PEN America, meanwhile, reports there were more than 4,500 book bans in Florida in the 2023-24 school year, up from 1,406 the prior year.
Lists show sharp rise in book removals, restrictions
Both numbers contain repeating titles, as sometimes the same book is targeted in multiple places. Regardless, the lists show a sharp rise in book removals and restrictions of “The Handmaid’s Tale” and a multitude of other novels.
It followed the activation of a DeSantis-signed book objection law that local school leaders interpreted in sometimes wildly varying ways.
Read the list of removed books here:Hundreds of books pulled from Florida schools listed in new DOE release. Here are the titles
“The Handmaid’s Tale” is commonly required reading in high schools and colleges across the nation. Written by Canadian author Margaret Atwood and published in 1985, its fictional future features a dystopian theocracy that uses women as commodities for child-bearing.
Its exploration of women’s rights especially resonated with certain readers following the repeal of Roe v. Wade and election victories of Donald Trump. The Republican’s latest win sent Amazon sales of the book soaring more than 7,000%, according to Business Insider.
The book features sexual violence and other mature content, and it has a recommended reading age of 14 years old and up on Amazon — though other places suggest it for readers 16 or older. School districts across Florida, citing the new state law, pointed to that content as justification for removing or restricting it.
The 2023 law (HB 1069) lays out objection protocol for school and classroom libraries. It requires books to be taken off shelves within five days of an objection over alleged sexual conduct content or pornographic and “harmful to minors” material. They have to remain off shelves until a review is complete.
While the standard for a book to be considered “harmful to minors” is incredibly high – think more in line with an erotica or dirty magazine than an acclaimed classic – the potential felony offense attached to it unnerved a lot of school districts.
That’s especially after a Florida Department of Education-issued training warned those making book removal decisions to “err on the side of caution” and mentioned that felony offense, which was created through an older law focused on preventing distributing “harmful” material to minors.
And school districts have interpreted the standard for “sexual conduct” very differently. Some groups said the state misrepresented and poorly explained it.
While the law states that challenged books with sexual conduct depictions are to be removed for “any grade level or age group for which such use is inappropriate or unsuitable,” some local school leaders have automatically removed books with any such content.
All that’s mixed with the pressure that Florida chapters of Moms for Liberty, a conservative parental rights group, has put on various local leaders to remove books its members deem inappropriate.
What various districts have done
What happened with “The Handmaid’s Tale” is an example of the law’s varied interpretations, with some districts removing it from high schools, some restricting it and some deciding it’s OK.
The Charlotte County School District was one of the places PEN America listed as having banned it, but its spokesperson said in an email that it was returned to shelves in late August.
Some of the other 10 Florida school districts that PEN America listed as having banned “The Handmaid’s Tale” last year also argue against that characterization.
A spokesperson for Orange County Public Schools said in an email that it had only restricted the title for 11th and 12 graders or with parental permission, for example.
A Polk County Public Schools spokesperson said it had been restricted to Advanced Placement students, and it’s available with a parent’s permission for Lake County Schools high schoolers.
“In this instance, removing the content was an independent, school-based decision. Six Volusia County high schools have decided to delete ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ from their libraries,” wrote Sarah Lux, public information officer for Volusia Schools, which was listed as having removed it in the state and PEN America lists. “Three high schools currently have copies of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ available for use for Advanced Programs instruction.”
In its list, PEN America considers a “ban” to be when books get removed from school or classroom libraries, removed pending a review, or restricted based on grade or a parent’s permission.
Stephana Ferrell, co-founder and director of research and insight for the Florida Freedom to Read Project, called the state list “disingenuous” and “misleading.”
The state Department of Education “list is being propped up as some factual representation of what is happening in Florida right now,” said Ferrell, whose book access advocacy provided the data for PEN America’s list. “They’re not giving parents an accurate picture of what is happening in our schools by publishing that list, and they know that.”
Her organization’s list also says the school districts for Brevard, Collier, Escambia, Hamilton and Seminole counties have also removed “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Collier and Seminole officials confirmed in emails that it had pulled the book from circulation. Officials from Brevard and Hamilton didn’t respond to requests for comment. A Duval spokesperson said the book is being reviewed but didn’t address its shelf status.
The Suwannee County School District is listed as reviewing the book with an “unclear” status on whether it’s still on shelves. It doesn’t appear in its school library catalog, and district officials also didn’t respond.
Meanwhile, an Escambia spokesperson declined to comment due to active litigation over its removals. The book was challenged there more than two years ago but has yet to be reviewed.
An illustrated version of the novel has also been pulled in a slew of districts for the same reason as the original: a citation of the new law’s “sexual conduct” objection criteria.
Ferrell believes such actions should be considered First Amendment violations. “There’s those that are enrolled in AP classes who have an educational need to have access to that book, and we are denying it in far too many districts across the state,” she said.
It’s not just ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
Ferrell also accuses the state Department of Education and its DeSantis-appointed leadership of intentionally delaying releasing this year’s removed book list until after the election.
“The list was released quietly, months later than it was in the prior school year, just after the election and just after the Florida supermajority was secure,” she said.
School districts are required to report their lists to the state by June 30. But the data was released without a press release either late Friday or over the weekend — a typical strategy used by governments to reduce attention and criticism of controversial announcements.
Ferrell said she checked the department’s website for the objection data Friday afternoon and didn’t see it, but noticed the new list when she checked again Sunday.
The Florida Department of Education didn’t answer questions as to when the data was actually published.
“There are no books banned in Florida, and sexually explicit materials do not belong in schools,” wrote Communications Director Sydney Booker in an email, even though the word “banned” was not used in the request for comment.
“Once again, far left activists are pushing the book ban hoax on Floridians,” Booker continued. “The better question is, why do these activists continue to fight to expose children to sexually explicit materials.”
The department didn’t respond to a follow-up question about whether, in that case, it agreed with the removal of books like “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
It’s not the only classic that’s been pulled.
For example, four school districts booted “Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut, according to the state list alone. Three did the same for “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison.
And it’s not just books with sexual material that have been removed in Florida.
Escambia County Public Schools has paid more than $100,000 in legal fees to defend its removal of “And Tango Makes Three,” a children’s picture book about a same-sex penguin pair raising a chick together.
That’s just one of a multitude of lawsuits filed related to school library controversies in Florida, the state that PEN America ranks as having far more book removals than any other state.
“This crisis is tragic for young people hungry to understand the world they live in and see their identities and experiences reflected in books,” said Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, in a statement earlier this month when announcing the list.
This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule is based in Tallahassee, Fla. He can be reached at [email protected]. On X: @DouglasSoule.
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