School library books, like these at R.L. Brown Gifted and Talented Academy in Jacksonville, remain a controversial issue in Florida. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on November 12, 2024 at 4:13 pm
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Clay County leads the entire state in the number of schoolbooks removed from classrooms and libraries. That’s according to data from last school year released by the Florida Department of Education.
The books were “removed or discontinued” in response to parental challenges.
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Districts across the state removed books after similiar challenges. But of more than 700 books removed from libraries across the state, 287 came from Clay’s libraries. Those books had been accessible to students from grades K-12.
Removed titles include many novels from horror writer Stephen King, novels from the fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire and classics like Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon and Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead.
Clay County Schools confirmed that 94% of the books on that list come from one community member, Bruce Friedman, who represents the organization No Left Turn in Education.
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While fewer than Clay’s list, a handful of books also were removed from libraries in St. Johns County’s public schools.
The six books removed in St. Johns County include George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones and Clash of Kings, Alice Sebold’s Almost Moon, Casey McQuiston’s One Last Stop and Gregory Maguire’s Wicked, the novel that inspired the Broadway musical and new film.
The last book removed from St. Johns County’s shelves is the 2022 edition of Ramsey Solutions’ Foundations in Personal Finance.
That book has been the subject of scrutiny in other counties, with critics saying its financial advice is bunk and its inclusions of Biblical material is unnecessary.
That wasn’t the case in St. Johns County, though. Christina Upchurch, the district’s chief of community relations, explained that the book was removed because the financial literacy course it was going to be associated with changed directions.
Schoolbooks in other counties
Elsewhere in Northeast Florida, according to the Florida Department of Education, no books were challenged and removed from libraries in Duval, Nassau or Putnam counties during the 2023-24 school year.
Below is the Florida Department of Education’s complete list of books removed from schools last school year.
