A list of books removed or challenged in Florida schools was released over the weekend, and one author’s name stood out.
Not Margaret Atwood, although her classic book “The Handmaid’s Tale,” the fictional story of a dystopian future where women are forced to breed by religious extremists, was removed from shelves or restricted in five school districts. Nor was it any authors of other perennial book-challenger targets such as “Slaughterhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut, Anne Frank’s “Diary of a Young Girl” or “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe.
In the 2023-2024 school year, according to the state, the author with the most books pulled from shelves was master of the macabre Stephen King, and they were all from the same county.
The next closest were New York Times best-selling authors Ellen Hopkins, with 38 instances of 16 different young adult books in 11 counties, and Sarah J. Maas with 35 instances of 13 fantasy books in 9 counties.
Clay County removed 68 titles written by the popular and prolific horror writer, including some written under King’s pseudonym Richard Bachman, some written with collaborators, and even his non-fiction autobiography and writing guide, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.” But the total number could have been much higher.
Banned books?Hundreds of books pulled from Florida schools listed in new DOE release. Here are the titles
Escambia County forced to return books to shelves
Escambia County listed more than 1,600 books pending review as of December 2023, which included 23 Steven King works along with hundreds of popular fiction books and classics of literature, eight different encyclopedias and five dictionaries.
In September, King, who has a home in Casey Key, famously responded to that news with a three-word reaction started with “What the…” that also wouldn’t be allowed in Florida classrooms. His post on X, formerly Twitter, has received 19.1 million views.
However, after getting hit with a federal lawsuit, the county has returned the books, although many are now restricted and some are still pending review. In the state’s list, Escambia County shows no books removed or challenged.
Which authors had the most books removed from Florida school districts last year?
These authors had the most instances of their books being removed or challenged in Florida schools in the 2023-2024 school year. Some books may be duplicates as different districts may have removed the same books.
- Stephen King: 68
- Ellen Hopkins: 38
- Sarah J. Maas: 35
- Jodi Picoult: 25
- Alice Sebold: 14
- Margaret Atwood: 10
Which Stephen King books were removed from a Florida school district?
The following titles were pulled from Clay County school shelves.
Grades K-12
- “Apt Pupil”
- “Carrie,”
- “It”
- “The Drawing of the Three”
- “The Gunslinger”
- “The Long Walk”
- “The Stand”
- “The Tommyknockers”
- “The Waste Lands”
- Wizard and Glass Dark Tower IV”
Grades 9-12
- “1922”
- “11/22/1963”
- “Bag of Bones”
- “Billy Summers”
- “Black House (Talisman #2)”
- “Blaze”
- “Blockade Billy”
- “Cell”
- “Christine”
- “Cujo”
- “Different Seasons”
- “Doctor Sleep (The Shining Part 2)”
- “Dolores Claiborne”
- “Dreamcatcher”
- “End of Watch”
- “Everything’s Eventual: 14 Dark Tales”
- “Finders Keepers (Bill Hodges Trilogy, 2)”
- “Firestarter”
- “Four Past Midnight”
- “From a Buick 8”
- “Full Dark, No Stars”
- “Gwendy’s Button Box”
- “Gwendy’s Final Task”
- “Hearts in Atlantis”
- “If It Bleeds”
- “Insomnia”
- “Joyland”
- “Just After Sunset”
- “Lisey’s Story”
- “Misery”
- “Mr. Mercedes”
- “Needful Things”
- “Nightmares & Dreamscapes”
- “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft”
- “Pet Sematary”
- “Revival”
- “Rose Madder”
- “Salem’s Lot”
- “Skeleton Crew”
- “Sleeping Beauties”
- “Song of Susannah (Dark Tower #6)”
- “Stephen King’s Danse Macabre”
- “The Bachman Books”
- “The Bazaar of Bad Dreams”
- “The Dark Half”
- “The Dark Tower (#7”)
- “The Dead Zone”
- “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon”
- “The Green Mile”
- “The Institute”
- “The Mist”
- “The Outsider”
- “The Regulators”
- “The Shining”
- “The Talisman (#1 in series)”
- “Thinner”
- “Under the Dome”
- “Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower #5)”
How many books has Florida banned?
That’s a tricky question.
According to Communications Director Sydney Booker, who seemingly sends out the same response to all media inquiries about it, “There are no books banned in Florida, and sexually explicit materials do not belong in schools.
“Once again, far left activists are pushing the book ban hoax on Floridians,” Booker said in an email. “The better question is, why do these activists continue to fight to expose children to sexually explicit materials.”
However, while the state may not have officially banned anything, Florida school districts fearful of state reprisals or jumping on the bandwagon have pulled thousands of books since book challenges began ramping up a few years ago. National free speech group PEN America reports there were more than 4,500 book bans in Florida in the 2023-24 school year, up from 1,406 the prior year and more than any other state in the country.
This follows the passage of a 2023 law (HB 1069) that 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 and remain off shelves until a review from a qualified representative is complete. The bill did not include a policy for anyone to appeal a decision.
It should be understood that PEN America also uses a broader definition of what constitutes a banned book, including books that were removed from school libraries and classroom shelves by districts without a formal challenge, books that were pulled pending a review, and books restricted to students based on grade or parent’s permission.
This post was originally published on here
