Florida school district bans book called 'Ban This Book'

(NewsNation) — A Florida school district voted to ban a book about banning books in May — and the irony isn't lost on those criticizing the move.

The Tallahassee Democrat reported that the Indian River County School Board voted to remove "Ban This Book" by Alan Gratz 3-2, going against a decision by the district's book-review committee to keep it.

Written in 2017, the novel is about a fourth-grade girl who creates a secret library in her locker filled with banned books after "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E. L. Konigsburg is challenged by a parent.

"Ban this Book" was itself challenged by Jennifer Pippin, chair of the Indian River chapter of Moms for Liberty, according to The Tallahassee Democrat. Moms for Liberty is considered a "far-right," "extremist" group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, though its leaders reject this label. Initially, the group gained popularity by protesting COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates at school board meetings, before turning its attention to "combating inclusive education and LGBTQ acceptance," the SPLC writes. One of Moms for Liberty's main focuses is calling for schools to take novels off their shelves that they consider "inappropriate," though they claim they are not trying to ban books.

Two of the three board members who voted in favor of removing "Ban this Book" were supported by Moms for Liberty in their campaigns, the Tallahassee Democrat wrote, while the third "yes" was by Kevin McDonald, whom Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed to the position.

In an interview with the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, Alan Gratz, the author of "Ban this Book," said school board members banned the book precisely because of its topic.

"It feels like they know exactly what they're doing and they're somewhat ashamed of what they're doing and they don't want a book on the shelves that calls them out," Gratz said.

Response to banning the book

McDonald said the title and theme of Gratz's novel "challenges our authority" and refers to other works deemed inappropriate by school boards, including Indian River County's.

"It not only mentions them but it lists them," he said at a school board meeting, per the Tallahassee Democrat.

However, school board chair Teri Barenborg noted that the actual book does not depict or describe sexual contact. Gratz said his book doesn't teach "rebellion against the school board," but civic engagement.

"If that means opposing what your school board is doing, that means opposing what your school board is doing," he told USA TODAY.

Florida Freedom to Read Project slammed the school district's decision to ban Gratz's book, pointing out the book review committee had wanted to retain it.

"They banned a book because it mentions other banned books," the group wrote on X. "It’s truly absurd."

Written comments by the District Book Review Committee were mainly positive and said Gratz had handled the subject matter well.

"The selection of this book as the first material this committee is formally reviewing represents situational irony better than any lesson I have ever taught," one committee member wrote.

A document obtained by the Tallahassee Democrat shows that the Indian River County School District has banned more than 140 books after objections.

Book Bans in the United States

PEN America issued a report in April saying Florida is responsible for 72% of the books that have been pulled from the nation’s schools in the first half of the current school year. Most of them are about LBTQ+ identities, include characters of color, address race and racism, or "include depictions of sexual experiences in the most broadest interpretation of that understanding," Kasey Meehan, Pen America’s Freedom to Read program director, said.

Legislation signed by DeSantis making it easier to challenge books in schools has been blamed for this, though the governor has argued he's just trying to "empower parents." Earlier this year, he signed a bill narrowing the focus of one law that allowed any person, regardless of whether they are a parent in the school district or even a resident, to challenge books as often as they wanted. The new law limits those without students in a school district to one book challenge per month.

Efforts to ban books have spread across the country, with an American Library Association report published in March stating that they reached "record high" levels last year.

The ALA report found 4,240 books in school and public libraries were targeted for censorship in 2023, making for a 65% increase from 2,571 in 2022. 

Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, told NewsNation that number is the highest the association's seen since it began collecting data two decades ago.

NewsNation digital reporter Safia Samee Ali and the Associated Press contributed to this report.